Strange Experiments
by PhoenixCrystal
Summary: At the beginning of KotCS, Indy meets a strange young woman with a tragic history and odd abilities. She sticks around for the rest of the story, and leaves her mark on more than one person... OC/Mutt
1. Prologue: Pain and Solitude

Yo. This is my second story, but since my first story is on indefinite standby, this is kinda my first-and-a-half story. Now that that's sorted out, I can tell you readers that this is kind of a weird story. This prologue kind of freaked me out when I wrote it because I normally don't write stories like this. Anyway, just go with it and enjoy it if you can!

Disclaimer: I don't own Indiana Jones or any of the other characters. Just so you know...

...

Prologue: Pain and Solitude

Pain. Unendurable agony. Bolts of lightning ripping through her, threatening to tear her apart. She screamed and screamed to no avail, they only stood and watched her torment. Gradually the sound of her own screams faded, but the pain did not end. Not until everything was gone: sight, sound, speech, everything. She faded into a void of solitude. She could feel nothing, but that was almost worse than the agony of before. Quite suddenly, feeling was restored. It seemed to be the only thing that existed, and for a while she treasured it. But then more pain came, of a different kind. Someone touching her, hurting her... She tried to fight, but she was too weak. She tried to call for help, but she wasn't even sure if she was making a sound. No one answered her pleas, anyway. All she could do was try to endure this new torture as she had the old ones. After a time this torture went away, and it was replaced by a new one. She began to hear strange things, horrible things. She heard not with her ears, but with her mind. She realized she was hearing the thoughts of others. She fought to block them out, but for a seemingly unending time made no progress. In this time, a true gift came: hearing. She could hear the words that people spoke, though somehow she knew that she heard once again with her mind, not her ears. She listened to the voices of the people around her, and heard the voice of the one who had done this to her. The voice was saying,

"You are not to use her to satisfy your desire. She has a much higher purpose, and you will not use her in this way."

Another voice responded, one she did not recognize.

"I thought you would not mind. You have said yourself many times that you do not care for her."

There was a pause, then the first voice said,

"I do not. But I also do not want such things done to her. Under other circumstances I could care less, but right now I want her to gain strength. Your treatment of her is sure to sap that strength. You will not do it again, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, perfectly," the second voice said, and she heard no more for a time.

She slept, and her dreams were filled with the thoughts of the evil people around her. In the dreams she screamed and screamed, but she knew that she made no noise. When she woke, she found that a sight of sorts had been returned to her. She found that she was in a tent, lying on a cot. The seeing was not quite like the old kind of seeing, but it was better than nothing. Still she could not speak. She tried and tried, but no sound left her mouth. Finally she realized that she would have to try to speak with her mind, putting her words directly into someone's mind. She had just figured out how to block other's thoughts, and the thought of exposing herself to them again frightened and repulsed her. But she had to try. She opened her mind and sought another. She found one. It was the mind of the one who had done this to her. She spoke into the person's mind,

_"Can you hear me?" _

The person seemed to stiffen. Then it said, in it's own mind, "Yes. So, you have grown stronger."

_"Yes."_

"What else can you do besides speak in my mind?"

_"I can read your thoughts."_

The person seemed to stiffen again, then said,

"Anything else?"

_"I can read anyone's thoughts. I'm sure I could speak to them, as well. I can see and hear with my mind."_

"Anything else?"

_"Not that I know of."_

"We shall see." This last sentence was said aloud, she knew. Somehow she could tell the difference, even though she heard both with her mind. The distinction might also have come from the fact that the person had just entered her tent.

"What else can you do?" the person asked.

_"I don't know."_

The next period of time was another torture. The person made her do all sorts of things she couldn't have imagined. In the process, she and the person both learned that she was stronger than before. She could also make strange shields that could withstand incredible amounts of force, even a bullet fired at point-blank range. She knew this because the person tried it. When all of this had been learned, the person leaned in close to her.

"There is one other thing that I have found out about you. You cannot lie now. That is a weakness, but it can also be a strength. You can get information for me from peoples minds. And then you can tell me everything that you've learned. Everything that you have learned."

_"What makes you think I would do such a thing?"_

"I have ways to persuade you."

_"No. I will never serve you, ... sister."_

"Don't be so sure."

And with that, Dr. Irina Spalkow left the tent, and Natalia Spalkow was left to ponder this newest pain, feeling more alone than she ever had in her life.

...

The reason this prologue was written in this strange format is for dramatic emphasis. I know that thoughts are normally done in italics with no parenthesis, but these are supposed to be spoken thoughts, if you follow me.

Please review!


	2. Escape

Hi there! Didja miss me? I'm sooooo sorry this chapter took so long. My excuses are 1) I was gone for a week and lost my train of thought, and 2) I got really bad writer's block like three times! Anyway, I'm sorry.

In my opinion, this chapter sucks. I think that's just because it took me so long to write that I got sick of it. Most of the inconsistencies in this chapter are intentional, but if you find any that you think might not be, please let me know! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Indiana Jones or anything about it. I do, however, own my freaky-weird originality. Try not to be jealous...

...

Chapter One: Escape

Dr. Henry Jones, Jr., also known as Indiana or Indy,was actually feeling nervous. It was a pretty rare feeling for him, and he was not enjoying it.

_This isn't so bad, _he thought, _Mac's right, I've escaped alive and well from much worse. There are only about, oh, thirty Russians at the most... they all have guns, and this woman, Dr. Spalko, has a rapier or something... the soldiers don't seem too smart, but she does... damn, I'm getting too old for this. No, can't think like that! I have to concentrate. Now. Keep the banter light, show no fear. I don't know what Dr. Spalko wants me to do, but I won't help her. What's she doing, putting her hand in my face like that? It looks like she's trying to read my mind or something..._

This was a good observation on Dr. Jones' part because that was exactly what Colonel Doctor Irina Spalko was attempting to do. She had, some months before, located an artifact that was said to turn ordinary humans into superhuman warriors. After her initial experiment, her conclusions were these: the artifact worked, but it also caused damage to the person you were enhancing. In order to make up for these weaknesses, you would have to enhance someone who was already nearly superhuman in strength and mind power. After these conclusions, she had modified the artifact so that it only bestowed minimal mindreading abilities and used it on herself. In this case, however, her subject needed more than minimal talents.

"You are a hard man to read, Dr. Jones," she said smoothly in her strong accent.

Dr. Jones, meanwhile, was wondering if she had lost her mind. What did she mean, hard to read? How could you learn anything about anyone by holding your hand in front of their face and staring into their eyes? You had to watch them carefully, under all different circumstances. Now Dr. Spalko was waving over one of her soldiers. She said something to him in Russian, and Indy thought he heard the name Natalia spoken by both of them. Dr. Spalko waved her hand emphatically, and the man hurried off.

"Now, Dr. Jones, I think I shall have to introduce someone to you. She will be able to figure out what I want to know."

"How can you be so sure?" Indy asked, thinking,_ Keep the banter light!_

"Quite easily, as you will see. Ah, here." Dr. Spalko gestured at a strange group that was approaching. Indy almost gasped in surprise, and he heard Mac say, "What the 'ell?"

Three people were coming towards them. Two of them were soldiers, and between them they dragged a young woman. She was very small, only about five feet tall, and quite slender. She had medium brown wavy hair that reached to her collarbones. Her eyes were an incredibly light blue, so pale as to be almost gray or silver. But the thing that shocked Indy the most was the fact that she bore quite a strong resemblance to Dr. Spalko. The difference was that Dr. Spalko looked cruel and in control, and this young woman looked kind but deeply frightened by something. She looked at Indy, wary but curious. Mac she ignored.

"I have someone I would like you to meet, Dr. Jones," Dr. Spalko said with a slightly triumphant air in her voice, " This is my younger sister, Natalia Spalko. She will find out from you what I want to know."

Indy practically gaped at her. He looked over at the young woman with even more interest, and noticed that at the mention of her relationship to Dr. Spalko, the young woman's expression changed from one of curiosity about Indy to cold quiet hatred at her sister.

_Maybe she won't cooperate,_ he thought, _This could be a good development for Mac and me. How in the world would this Natalia Spalko find out information from me?..._

Natalia Spalko was looking at her sister with a strangely intent look on her face. Dr. Spalko turned to face her ans said, just as if Natalia had spoken, "You will do it. Find out what he knows about this," she paused slightly, " especially its location. You will then tell me everything you learn, and you will not attempt to lie, you know you cannot do it now."

There was a pause as though Natalia was saying something, then Dr. Spalko said sharply, "Now! Talk to him if you have to."

Indy had been wondering when this Natalia was going to speak, he was curious to see if she had the same strong accent as Dr. Spalko. But what happened next was so startling that he almost felt real fear.

He heard a voice in his head. It was clearly the voice of a young woman, but she didn't have any accent to speak of.

_"Hello, Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.,"_ the voice said, _" My name is Natalia... Spalko." _This last word was filled with contempt. She went on, _"Please don't be frightened by this. It must be very startling."_

"How can I-" Indy said out loud, unconsciously finishing his sentence in his head, _talk to you, without Dr. Spalko hearing me?_

_"Just think what you want to say very clearly in your mind, and I will hear it."_

_How are you able to do this?_

There was a pause, and Indy felt a sort of shrinking coming from Natalia. Finally she said, _"My... sister... did this to me. Or rather, an artifact that she found and tested on me did. The artifact is, I believe, supposed to give strange powers and great strength to the person it is used on, but in my case... there were some very strong side effects to results that were not very strong in the first place. I can read minds and I'm a little stronger than before, but I can't physically see, hear, or speak."_

_Really? You heard both me and Dr. Spalko speak out loud, and you act like you can see._

_"Somehow, my mind adapted, and I can see and hear with my mind. It is... different than the physical ways of seeing and hearing, but I am trying to limit these new ways to the parameters of the old ways. Another thing I lost is, strangely enough, the ability to lie. I can omit some things and refuse to answer, but I cannot say even the smallest of lies. So please, trust me. I know you are planning planning to try an escape, but I will not tell Irina. Firstly because I want you to get away, and secondly because... I want to come with you."_

_You do?_ Indy thought to himself for a moment before continuing. _I can guess that you are not treated very well._

_"No, I- no. I'm not."_

_Well... you can come, but you'll have to keep up. Mac and I won't be able to watch you constantly._

With a slight air of annoyance, Natalia retorted, _"I can take care of myself, Dr. Jones."_

_All right. Dr. Spalko wanted to know about something, you should tell her what I've already told her: I don't know what she's looking for._

_"Is that..."_ Natalia seemed to concentrate, and Indy felt an odd tingle run through his mind. _"It is the truth. I will tell her. And I will let you hear our conversation as well, so that you know I'm not betraying you."_

Just after Natalia said this, Mac leaned over to Indy.

"What the 'ell just 'appened, Jonesey? You had the oddest look on your face."

"Later, Mac," Indy muttered back, just in time to hear Natalia's voice in his head again. There was a slightly different quality to it, a sort of echo. Indy guessed that by what she was saying that this new quality was because she was also talking to Dr. Spalko.

_"He doesn't know what you are looking for, Irina. He has memories of it, but he has no idea where it is."_

"Are you sure of this?" Dr. Spalko looked very hard at Natalia. Natalia met her gaze squarely.

_"Quite."_

"Very well," she turned and addressed Indy, "We shall have to do this... what is expression? The old-fashioned way." Dr. Spalko pulled her gloves on and directed that the doors of the huge hanger be opened. They were, and Spalko had her soldiers pull Indy and Mac to the hanger. Natalia was grabbed and dragged along, too.

Indy listened and responded to what Dr. Spalko was saying, but most of his attention was focused on finding weaknesses in her. It was proving to be harder than he had hoped it would be. The thing that really snapped his attention on to what she was saying was her description of of the thing she wanted him to find. She described a box, giving its dimensions and stating that its contents were mummified remains. Indy suddenly realized what Dr. Spalko was looking for and felt a strange chill of dread. He remembered that box and its contents. He had no idea what those remains were, but they gave him the creeps. When he felt the chills he saw Natalia's eyes dart over to him. She looked hard at him for a few seconds, then looked away. Indy heard her say, as though she were whispering in his ear, _"Just take Irina to it. I don't know why she wants it, but if you don't take it... I know from experience that she won't be very charitable to you or your friend."_

Indy decided to use this opportunity to test Dr. Spalko. So, in so many words, he refused to look for the box. In an instant she drew her rapier, grabbed his shoulder, and stuck the point of the blade right in his face. Indy heard Mac make a little sound behind him, and Natalia's voice in his head said urgently, _"I told you! Just help her, and it might wind up helping you!" _With a sigh of reluctance, Indy agreed to look for the box.

Dr. Spalko looked triumphant. She directed her soldiers to form a circle around her, Indy, Mac, and Natalia, and they started off. Indy was trying to figure out how he could possibly find the right box in this immense warehouse with enumerable boxes when an idea struck him. He called out, "I need a compass!"

Everyone stopped and looked at him like he was crazy.

"You know, a compass!" he said, hoping the Russians would catch on to what a compass was, "North, South, East..."

"West..." Mac muttered, trying to help.

When no one responded, Indy walked right up to one of the soldiers, got right in his face, and said, "I need your bullets."

The man stared at him, then laughed and called out something to the other soldiers, who also laughed. Indy decided he would have to talk to the only person around besides himself and Natalia who had any brains: Dr. Spalko. He turned to her.

"The contents of that box were highly magnetized. I need gunpowder. Do you want my help or not?"

She seemed to catch on and ordered one of her men to empty a grenade into Indy's hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Natalia looking at him admiringly. He heard her words in his mind, _"I know what you're going to do, Dr. Jones, and ZI think it's brilliant! I just hope it works..."_

_So do I, _he thought back. He started to climb up a pile of boxes, the gunpowder clenched in his hand. Several of Dr. Spalko's soldiers moved to stop him, but she raised her hand and they fell back. When Indy reached the top, he looked around. The warehouse was even bigger than he had thought. Looking down at Dr. Spalko, he finished explaining his idea.

"If they still are, the metal in this gunpowder should point the way." Then, praying hard, he threw the gunpowder into the air. It didn't fall. Instead, it seemed to float in one place for a second, and then it flowed off through the air as though drawn by a force stronger than gravity. Everyone watched it, making mental notes as to its direction. When it was out of their sight, Indy climbed down and Dr. Spalko said something to her soldiers in Russian.

The group set off in the direction the gunpowder had taken. One of the soldiers gave Indy his cap and three others emptied grenades into it, clearly under Dr. Spalko's commands. When they reached the spot where they had lost track of the first gunpowder, Indy hurled the second gunpowder load into the air. It did exactly what the first batch had done, only this time everyone ran after it and were just in time to see it enter a huge stack of boxes and not exit. They all ran up to it, and Indy turned to Dr. Spalko.

"I need shotgun shells and some pliers," he said. She nodded and directed her men to get what he needed. When Indy had his tools, he climbed up the enormous pile. At the top, he broke the shells with the pliers, dumped the little pellets out of then into his hand, then paused. Everyone was looking up at him with varying mixtures of excitement and impatience. Indy dropped the pellets and every heard and saw them fall through the cracks in the boxes. Suddenly, they all stopped falling and got sucked into the middle of the pile. Indy climbed down as Dr. Spalko had her men pull boxes out of the pile. Finally, in the exact middle of the pile, they found the side of a box that had shotgun pellets stuck to it.

_"Well done, Dr. Jones!"_ Indy heard Natalia's voice say, _"I don't think anyone else could have ever found it, but you did in about five minutes!"_

_Since you're the only one congratulating me, I guess no one else really appreciates it, _he thought back. After a moment, he added, _So, thanks._

_"You're welcome."_

Dr. Spalko, who seemed very excited, had her soldiers pull the box out. They moved it to a clear space in the floor, grabbed crowbars, and pulled the top off. This revealed a metal box inside the wooden one which was obviously highly magnetic because the crowbars stuck to it instantly. The men holding them had to wrench them off and break up the rest of the wood box by hand. When they had finished, Dr. Spalko had them carry the box over to the Jeep that had been following the group. As they did, all manner of metal things followed them, from nails and things rolling after them on the floor to the ceiling lamps straining against their cords towards the box. This was all rather unnerving, and many of the soldiers were starting to mutter in fear. As they approached the Jeep, all the other soldiers in the area began to have odd things happen to the metal they had on them. They had to grip their guns very tightly to keep them from flying over and sticking to the box. Some men even had their dogtags floating horizontally in front of them, pointing towards the box. The muttering was getting louder, but with a few sharp words from Dr. Spalko they stopped. As the men carrying the box lifted it to set it in the back of the Jeep, the scabbard of Dr. Spalko's rapier leaped out and stuck to the end of the box. She had to pull very hard on the scabbard to return it to its normal place at her side. Indy thought he saw Natalia's mouth twitch in amusement at this. Dr. Spalko, seeming to decide that she didn't want to have to deal with it sticking to the box all the time, unbuckled her sword and handed it to one of her soldiers. This taken care of, she climbed into the back of the Jeep next to the box.

Indy saw Dr. Spalko flip open the latches on the side of the box and lift the lid, but he had a lot harder time seeing after that because all the soldiers crowded in front of him to watch. There was a sound like something decompressing, and Indy thought he saw Dr. Spalko open another lid, this one made of glass. He watched her face. Her eyes were very wide, and she looked extremely excited while still being serious. Indy turned to watch Natalia. She had her eyes closed, and she seemed to be concentrating.

_What are you doing? _he thought at her.

_"Watching,"_ was the only explanation she gave.

Suddenly Indy heard a lots of gasps and muttering. Dr. Spalko was lifting something slightly out of the box, and with a jolt of horror and disgust Indy realized it was a semi-mummified hand. The sight of the hand reminded him of the rest of the remains he had seen, which, while not being much, had been grotesque.

Indy decided this was as good a time as any to attempt an escape. He saw one of the soldiers near him holding his bullwhip and almost grinned. He readied himself, then lunged at the man and grabbed the whip, sending the man flying in the process. Another soldier whirled to face Indy, raising his gun, but Indy was too quick for him. He flicked his wrist hard, and the 10 foot bullwhip snapped out and coiled around the gun. Indy tugged hard on his whip and pulled the gun right out of the man's hands. It flew through the air and was caught by Mac. Indy grabbed the gun of the man he had sent flying. The other Russians pulled out their weapons, but by that point Indy and Mac were standing almost back-to-back, ready to fire. Indy took aim at Dr. Spalko.

"Put your weapons down or the Colonel Doctor dies," he said triumphantly.

The soldiers did as they were told. At least, for a moment. The man who stood in front, whom Indy recognized from earlier without remembering his name, smiled and raised his gun again. All the other men did, too. Indy was confused until he heard the click of a gun off to his left. He turned.

It was Mac. Indy almost gaped at him, then managed to say, "Why, Mac?"

Mac shrugged. "What can I say, Jonesey? I'm a capitalist, and" he gestured at the Russians, "they pay."

Indy glanced at Natalia, who looked horrorstruck.

_Did you know about this?_ he thought furiously at her.

_"No, I swear I didn't. I didn't even think to check if he was trustworthy. I'm sorry. But don't worry, I'm your ally now. Just go along with them for a minute, we can think of something."_

So Indy did. He asked Mac if he was kidding and got to hear a lame excuse for treachery in response. The man who had first raised his gun changed his aim to point straight at Indy's head, and Dr. Spalko smiled coldly and asked him if he had any defiant last words. He smiled back and said, in a sarcastic tone, the first thing that popped into his head: "I like Ike." Some of the soldiers laughed. Dr. Spalko smiled in triumph, and the man aiming at Indy said, "Drop the gun!"

In that instant, Indy knew exactly what he was going to do. Hoping that Natalia was paying close attention, he said, "You got it, pal," and threw the gun down. When the gun hit the ground, it fired and the bullet hit one of the soldiers in the foot. The man shrieked and hopped in agony, and the sudden loud noise and stumbling man threw everyone off and gave Indy his chance. He started to run, and as soon as he did he heard Dr. Spalko yell, "Natalia! Stop him!"

In spite of himself, Indy stopped and turned around to watch. Apparently everyone else did, too, for none of the soldiers shot at Indy, or even moved.

Natalia turned slowly to face her sister. She spoke to her, but Indy could tell that she was also speaking to everyone else because many of the soldiers flinched or cried out. And also, Indy heard her.

_"No."_

"What did you say?" Dr. Spalko said venomously.

_"I said I won't help you catch Dr. Jones. In fact, I'm never going to help you again, Irina. No matter what you think, I'm not on your side. I'm on Dr. Jones' side, I'm going to help him escape, and... I'm going with him."_

"We will stop you!" Dr. Spalko cried, but Indy thought she looked very slightly worried.

_"Do your worst, Irina, but we're not staying."_

Dr. Spalko grabbed a gun from one of her men, aimed right at Natalia, and fired. Indy yelled, but instead of falling with a bullet in her head Natalia did something he would only have expected in a dream. At the same time that Dr. Spalko had raised the gun Natalia had raised her hand, and when the gun had fired her fingers had twitched. What Indy guessed to be some kind of energy formed a sort of shield in front of Natalia, and when Dr. Spalko's bullet hit it it just ricocheted right off. There were several loud cries of surprise, and a cry of fury from Dr. Spalko. She threw the gun back to its owner and yelled for her soldiers to get Indy.

_"Let's go, Dr. Jones!" _Natalia cried in his mind, _"Run, or do whatever you were planning to do!"_

_I don't things like that, _he responded, and leaped into action.

Doing escapes like this always made Indy feel extremely scared and yet extremely exhilarated. He dodged bullets, commandeered vehicles, and mostly ran like heck. His favorite part was throwing Dr. Spalko out of the Jeep as she tried to drive it out of the warehouse to protect the box and its contents. He had some very near mishaps, such as missing the Jeep when he was trying to swing into it on his whip and winding up landing in a truck. He only caught a few second-long glimpses of Natalia, she seemed to be fine but tiring a little fast. Indy wasn't surprised at her wearing out a bit, after all, she was a very petite young woman. He was getting a little worn out, himself. He was just thinking this when he encountered one of the last people he wanted to meet: the colonel from earlier, the one who had almost shot him. This man had hit Indy very hard almost the first moment after they had met each other, and Indy had no wish to get in a fistfight with this man. Unfortunately, it seemed he would have to because the man tackled him. They flew backwards and crashed through a glass panel. When they hit the floor on the other side, it turned out to be glass as well. It shattered, and Indy and the man fell though into a lower room and landed on some strange equipment.

Indy was glad that the equipment was there because this new room had a very high ceiling. If the equipment hadn't been there they would have fallen 30m feet or more, but as it was they only fell about 15. The man immediately got up and punched Indy. Indy hit him back, then started looking for a way down. Long chains hung down from the ceiling, and both Indy and the man grabbed one. As they climbed down, Indy swung over and crashed headlong into the man, sending him hurtling through a glass wall onto some sort of control panel. After a second, the man got up and charged Indy, sending him flying. While Indy recovered, he saw the man grab some chain and wind part of it around his hand, making a sort of whip. He lashed out at Indy with it, and Indy barely managed to dodge. The man swung again and again, forcing Indy back towards some sort of jet engine or rocket, which Indy thought might be powering up.

_Maybe this guy threw some sort of switch when he landed on that control panel, _Indy thought, and ducked the chain whip as it whistled over his head.

The two men were now on the jet engine itself. The man hit Indy very hard several times in the stomach, then wrapped his chain around Indy's throat. Indy fought back, but the man hoisted him up and hooked the chain around around Indy's throat to another chain dangling from the ceiling and continued punching him. Indy, his vision blurring slightly, saw a person dash into the room closely pursued by five or six other people. The person being chased was Natalia, and at the sight of her Indy felt like cheering. Her chasers were several random Russian soldiers and ... Mac. Indy remembered just in time not to be too excited about Mac being there.

_That traitor!_ he thought, and the thought filled him with anger and gave him the strength to fight again. Indy kicked the man holding him repeatedly until he dropped him, then unhooked the chains and pulled them from around his neck. Indy saw that Natalia had just reached the side of the jet engine and that the men chasing her were directly behind it when the engine ignited. A huge jet of flame shot out of the back of it, engulfing the men, but Indy thought he saw Mac get out of the way just in time. The other men screamed as they burned, but once again Indy was distracted. The man next to him hit him in the legs, causing Indy to fall. They were just about to start fighting again when something very disruptive happened: the jet engine blasted off along its track.

Just as it started, Indy thought he heard Natalia cry, _"Hold on, Dr. Jones!"_ in his mind, but then it seemed like everything was gone. The jet engine roared down a tunnel and then out into the open air, and its speed was such that Indy, who was on the front of it, felt as though he was being crushed. He and the man were flattened back onto the engine, their faces contorted by the extreme speed. It seemed to Indy that they would keep going forever, but finally the engine slowed down and stopped at the end of its track.

Indy was feeling very stunned, and it was hard for him to remain conscious. The other man passed out, and his head flopped over onto Indy's shoulder. Indy grimaced in disgust, moved his shoulder out from under the man's head, then pushed him away. The man slumped away and fell limply off the other side of the engine onto the ground with a thud. Indy shook his head to clear it and heard Natalia's voice.

_"Are you all right, Dr. Jones?"_

He looked over to his right and saw her standing on a sort of shining shield-like thing, which was hovering in midair. She looked down at him, concern in her eyes.

"Wha- how the hell?" Indy said weakly, raising a still-shaking finger to point at her.

_"Oh. Yes. Well," _Natalia said a little sheepishly, _"I... wanted to follow you when that thing,"_ she pointed at the engine, _"took off, and... this is what happened. I don't know where the idea came from, but it worked."_ Sher looked up, then looked back down at Indy, suddenly very worried.

_"They're coming. Please hurry, Dr. Jones."_

Indy pulled himself to his feet and grabbed his hat, swaying. He tried to step off the engine to the ground, but wound up falling flat on his face. Natalia's shield vanished from beneath her feet, and she landed at his side. She touched his shoulder.

_"Please get up, Dr. Jones, we have to hurry!"_

Indy managed to stand. He turned and saw some cars driving up on the other side of the engine. The other man had gotten up and was weaving drunkenly towards the cars. Indy grabbed Natalia's arm and pulled her over to a clump of bushes. They dropped down on the other side of them, listened for a few seconds to the sound of car doors opening and closing, then fled off into the night.

...

There you go! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review! The more reviews I get, the sooner I'll update... -


	3. Getting To Know You

Hi! Finding the time to type and post this was... interesting... because this is a really long chapter and I'm a reeeeally slow typist. Sorry you had to wait. I'll try to update quicker in the future.

Thank you to all the people who reviewed, alerted, etc. this story! You people make me happy. I've had some people say that this is a really good Mutt/OC story, and that weirds me out because Mutt hasn't even shown up yet! I must be doing pretty well... Woot!

This is a very intriguing chapter because it explains a lot about my OC! I had someone ask a while ago how old she was, and you will find out in this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Indiana Jones or anything to with it, except my character. Or does she own me? Hmmm...

...

Chapter Two: Getting To Know You

Indy and Natalia ran for what seemed like hours. After a while they slowed to a walk, but they still kept up a quick pace. Indy found that it was very strange to travel with Natalia because the only noise she made was the sound of her breathing.

_How did all of this happen to her?_ he thought.

Natalia's voice in his mind made him jump. _"Do you really want to know?"_

After he recovered himself, Indy said aloud, "Well, yes. I'm curious."

_"... It's a long story."_

"What else do we have to do?"

Natalia didn't say anything for a minute, and Indy felt the same shrinking sensation he'd felt from her before. Finally she said, _"All right, Dr. Jones, I'll tell you. You have a right to know._

_"My family has always been very troubled. Most of them are firm believers in the Communist way of life, but I never have been and neither has my mother. My siblings are both much older than me, and both followed in the family's footsteps. Irina was... let's see... fourteen when I was born, and we also had a brother who was three years younger than her. He's dead, in case you were wondering."_

"Actually, I was wondering how old you are. You look very young, but Dr. ... Um, your sister looks like she's in her mid-thirties."

_"She's thirty-two. And I'm not 'very young,' I'll be eighteen next month!" _Natalia sounded indignant.

"All right, all right, you don't have to jump on me!" Indy was amused, but he tried to contain himself. "I'm sorry for saying you look young. Keep going."

_"Ok. Where was I?"_

"Your brother is dead."

_"Oh, yes."_ Natalia paused, then went on with her story.

_"Irina is a horrible person. Some of my earliest memories are of her torturing animals for fun and making me watch."_ Natalia shuddered. _"It was awful. After it happened a few times I told my mother, and the sad thing is, she believed me. She told me that my father was just as bad, and I believed her. She didn't know it, but he'd hit me a few times. She asked me if I'd like to go away with her and never see them again. I said I would, and that very night we sneaked out. We did get away, but we had to keep running from them for years because they kept trying to find us. We managed to evade them, but it was very hard and awful for us. While we were on the run, my mother taught me things I never would have learned from the others. Somehow, she got books and things from outside the Soviet Union and taught me English and history."_

Indy interrupted. "You can speak English?"

Natalia smiled slightly, but she also looked sad. _"When I could actually speak, yes I could. But I had the same strong accent as Irina. Now... spoken language means nothing to me. Thoughts and emotions aren't really in any language, so I can understand anyone and everyone."_

"Fascinating."

_"I suppose so, but to me it's just rather frightening."_

Indy nodded, understanding how she might feel that way. Then he asked, "So... if you hated Dr. ... Irina and the rest of your family, how did you wind up here?"

_"Well, as I said, my mother and I ran from them for many years. We managed to stay fairly safe. But then, when I was thirteen, my mother told me to hide. She said she was going out to check on something, and that she'd be back soon..."_

"Let me guess, she didn't come back?"

_"Yes. I was alone. For a while I was terrified, but then I knew I would have to take care of myself. I kept running for a while, but then I found a safe place to live. I stayed there for several years, up to just about two months ago, in fact. All that time, I was trying to find a way to get out of the Soviet Union. I would have gone anywhere, anywhere at all as long as it was away, but I especially thought it would be good to go to America. My mother had wanted to go there, and she had been trying to find ways to leave, too, before she left. I was making a little progress, but then one day..." _Natalia broke off and took a deep breath.

"Go on," Indy urged.

_"Then one day, I received a letter... in my mother's handwriting. I was ecstatic. 'She's alive,' I thought. The letter said that she was sorry she had left me, that she'd had to to save me. It said she'd found a way to leave and go to America, and to come join her at a certain place so we could escape together. I'm not sure why I believed the letter was from her. Maybe because I wanted her to still be alive and all right. Maybe because I wanted to leave the Soviet Union so badly. Anyway, I went to the place the letter said i should go."_

Indy found himself getting into the story. It was horrible, yet somehow compelling.

"Was your mother there?" he asked.

_"No. Irina was. Apparently, she had encountered our mother some time before, and found out that I was alive as well. Somehow she found out where I was, and I think she forced my mother to write the letter so that I would come. Either that , or she forged the letter herself. The only thing I know for certain is that she had our mother killed. I don't think she killed her herself, but I wouldn't put it past Irina. Anyway, she had what she wanted: me."_

"Why did she want you?"

_"Ever since I was little, I've had very high... oh, what's it called? Extrasensory perception."_

"ESP?"

_"Yes. It was never like a real 'sixth sense,' but I've always noticed things about people and known things were going to happen right before they did. To me it's always seemed to be just good observing skills, but Irina thought it was more. She wanted me because she had found something... some sort of artifact, I think... and she wanted to test it on me because I was likely to give her good results."_

"I remember you telling me something about this earlier. You said something about this... artifact... giving powers and strength to the person who used it."

_"That's right. That is what it's supposed to do, but—"_

"That isn't what it actually does?"

_"Oh, it does it, just... well... the only way I can describe it is this: If you used the artifact on someone who was already nearly superhuman in strength, abilities, and ESP, you would get your superhuman warrior. But if you use it on anyone else... well, look at me! I have mental abilities now, I can make some sort of energy shield, I'm a bit stronger than I was, but I can't physically see, hear, or speak. I also can't lie. If you were already nearly superhuman, the loss of sight, hearing, speech, and the ability to lie would be balanced by the gaining of of the other skills, but in my case... I don't think it is. And neither did Irina."_

While this tale was being told, Indy and Natalia had been walking, climbing, and once even jumping over a narrow canyon. Indy knew that he was getting slightly worn out, and while Natalia's voice remained steady in his mind, he could hear her breathing becoming labored.

"Let's stop for a minute," he suggested.

_"Are you tired?"_ Natalia asked in an almost teasing tone.

"Not really, but you are."

Natalia tossed her head. _"I'm..."_ Her words faded. She seemed to struggle with something. Finally she said, _"Agh! I can't lie at all! All right, I'm a __bit__ tired."_

"I thought so. Sit down."

Natalia sat on a rock, and Indy sat on another rock beside hers.

"So, you went to this place, found... your sister ... there, and learned all this about the artifact. Did Dr. Spalko use the artifact on you there?"

_"Yes. At least, I think that's where. My memory of that is a bit blurry. I remember Irina asking me if could do this to me, if I would be willing. I refused. Then I think she must have drugged me or something because the next thing I remember is waking up in a strange room. It had a glass panel on the wall, and I could see Irina and some of her men standing on the other side watching me. I started to ask them what was going on, but there was this flash of light from behind me somewhere, and then--"_ Natalia broke off, shuddering.

"What?" Indy asked, "What happened?"

_"Pain. Unbearable pain. I've never felt anything like it, and I hope I never do again. I screamed for them to stop, to help me, to do anything. But they just stood there and watched."_

Indy was horrified. He stood up and said, "Let's keep going. You can talk on the way."

_"All right."_ Natalia stood up._ "Which way?"_

"This way." Indy started walking, and Natalia followed him. After a minute she resumed her story.

_"After that, my memory gets cloudy again. I think that's because I couldn't see, hear, or speak. My mental abilities hadn't even shown up yet. It was like I was in a void. The only thing I could do was feel. It was then that... well... never mind."_ Natalia suddenly looked very frightened and vulnerable.

'What?"

_"I... I don't want to say."_

"Just tell me." Indy really wanted to know what Natalia had been going to say. She glanced up at him, then quickly looked away. She seemed to become even smaller than she already was. Finally she said,_ "All right. One of Irina's soldiers... well... um, well... one of them... hurt me."_

These words were innocuous enough, but since they were put directly into Indy's mind, he got their full meaning. As she said the words, Natalia unconsciously sent Indy her memories of the sensations of what had happened to her. He stopped dead, filled with horror and revulsion. He whipped around to face Natalia.

"That man didn't just hurt you, he... he raped you!" Indy's words were filled with his disgust. He felt nauseated and terribly angry.

_"Yes. I couldn't stop him. I tried, but... I couldn't. It was horrible."_

"You're damn right it was!" Indy almost yelled, 'Tell me who did it, so I can kill the son of a bitch!"

_"i don't know who did it. The only way I'd ever know who it was is if I saw him and he thought of the incident. Otherwise, I wouldn't know because I'd have to check his mind for the memory, and I'd rather not go into the minds of all of Irina's soldiers. Most of them are just as bad as her, and all those awful thoughts and memories are physically painful to me."_

Indy racked his brains furiously.

"What about that one guy?" he said finally, "That one I was with right before we got away? I never caught his name."

Natalia grimaced. _"Colonel Antonin Dovchenko. I don't know much about him, but the little I do know makes me glad I don't know more. He's as power-hungry as Irina. I don't think even he would stoop as low as to... do what that person did to me, but I could be wrong. I hope I never find out. Please, Dr. Jones, can we change the subject?"_

"One more question. How did Dr. Spalko take... what happened to you?"

_"She didn't care."_

"What?!"

_"She didn't care. Or rather, the only thing she was worried about was that she wanted me to be getting stronger, and she thought that... what had been done to me might slow that process."_

"I take it back," Indy growled, " I don't just want to kill the guy, I want to kill her, too."

_"Join the club." _Natalia sighed out loud.

Indy managed to restrain his emotions. Finally he asked," So what happened after the man... hurt you?"

_"My abilities started showing up. When I was strong again, Irina said it was time to set off. She had me drugged, and when I finally woke up all the way we were here in America. I immediately started planning to attempt an escape, and then you showed up and gave me the means and the opportunity."_

"Glad I could help," Indy said, smiling a little. Normally he said this in a sarcastic way, but this time he really meant it.

_"I'm glad you were, too."_

During this whole time, Indy had noticed that the sky was getting light. He and Natalia walked around a corner in the rocks and saw the land opening up ahead of them. The rocks sloped off steeply down to the plain below. Indy thought he could see a town with a road leading up to it down on the plain.

"Does that look like a town to you?" he asked Natalia. She looked carefully.

_"It does!" _She turned to Indy, _"I think we've made it, Dr. Jones."_

"We'll see. By the way, you don't have to call me Dr. Jones."

_"Well, what should I call you, then? Henry? I'd rather not."_

"No, not Henry. I have... sort of a nickname that only close friends even know about, let alone call me by it."

_"What is it? Oh, wait,"_ Indy felt the same strange tingling sensation he'd felt in his mind earlier, _"Is it... Indiana?"_

"Yeah. Or Indy."

_"May I call you Indy?"_

"Sure."

_"Thanks!"_

Natalia and Indy started off down the hill towards the town. After a minute, Indy said, "You know, Natalia, I'll have to come up with a nickname for you. I tend to do that with people I know because I like to have something short to say when I'm in a hurry. And in case you haven't noticed yet, I'm in a hurry most of the time."

Natalia snorted. _"My name is a little hard to say quickly, isn't it? What were you thinking of for a nickname?"_

"Well, I was kind of thinking... Nat. What do you think?"

Natalia looked at Indy and smiled. It was the first time he'd actually seen her smile fully, and he thought it did a lot for her. She was already rather pretty , but when she smiled she almost glowed. He couldn't help smiling back.

_"Nat... I like it!"_

"Nat it is, then!" Indy looked out at the plain. "Let's get to that town, Nat."

_"All right, Dr. ... um, Indy!"_

The pair of them continued down the hill. They had to climb a few times, but all around it wasn't very difficult. Indy fixed the direction of the town in his mind so that when they reached level ground, they would know which way to go. They soon got down to the plain and started to hurry across it.

When they were nearing the town, Indy heard a strange noise. He stopped and looked around for its source. Nat stopped a little ahead of him and turned back.

_"What is it, Indy?"_

"I'm not sure yet. Do you here that sound?"

_"What-- oh, that. Yeah. What is it?"_

Indy looked around again. He caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye, and his heart sank.

"It's a car on that road over there. And I have a feeling I've seen that car before."

Nat looked where he was looking and made a funny little sound. It was the breath sound that was the remainder of what would normally be a little cry.

_"It's them. Irina's soldiers." _She sounded very worried.

'Well, if we hurry, we can get to the town before them. Maybe someone there will let us use a phone or something."

_"Ok. Let's go."_

They set off at a run, bent low in an attempt to be inconspicuous. In a few minutes they reached the outermost row of houses. Indy heard the car approaching and hissed, "Quick, get over that fence!" Nat clambered over the fence into the nearest backyard. Indy hoisted himself over and ducked down just in time. The car passed within five yards of them not three seconds later. When it had passed, Indy hurried towards the house, Nat right behind him. Indy went up to the back door and knocked hard on it.

"Hello?" he called," Somebody?"

No one opened the door, so Indy checked to see if it was locked. It wasn't. The door swung open easily, and Indy darted through it. He stepped into a sort of laundry room, and heard music from some where else in the house. It sounded like the people who lived in the house were watching television.

"Hello?" Indy called again, "The door was unlocked, so we--" He noticed a sink next to him and turned on the faucet, planning to splash off his face. No water came out. He stared at it, and heard Nat's voice say, _"Um, Indy?" _He ignored her and rushed through the kitchen into the family room. He saw a family sitting on the couch, seemingly mesmerized by the television, which was playing "Howdy Doody." Indy walked up to them, saying, "Hey, sorry to barge in, but I need to use a pho--" He grasped the father's shoulder and the man's arm came off. Indy stared, and realized that the 'family' was just... puppets. Or maybe mannequins.

_"Indy, there's no one here,"_ Nat said, fear in her voice.

"They're puppets," he gasped. He went over to the front door and opened it.

The scene that met his gaze was humorous, but at the same time very eerie. Mannequins were standing around, posed as though they were watering their lawns, washing their cars, and even riding bicycles.

_"Indy, there's no one here,"_ Nat repeated. She seemed to concentrate, then said, _"There's no one here besides us and Irina's men."_ Indy staggered towards the street, staring around wildly. He grasped a little girl puppet to steady himself and accidentally made her let go of the wagon she was "pulling." Indy let go of her and backed away, hitting a boy puppet who was holding a ball. The ball fell and Indy tried to catch it, knocking the boy puppet over in the process. He gave up and stared around again. The ball rolled across the street and into the gutter.

Then suddenly Indy heard a loud siren. It echoed loudly throughout the whole fake town.

'That can't be good," Indy muttered. Nat hurried up to him.

_"What do you think that's for?"_ she asked, her voice sounding like a whisper in his ear. Indy was opening his mouth to respond when a man's voice suddenly started speaking as though over an intercom.

**"It is now one minute until zero hour..."**

"That can't be good at all!" Indy cried. He now understood the purpose of this "town." It was an atomic test site, and someone was going to be testing a bomb on it in one minute, no, fifty-seven seconds from now. He started looking around wildly for a place to hide. He heard a car door slam, and saw the Russian soldiers getting out of their car and pointing at him and Nat. Then they seemed to get what was going on, piled back in the car, and roared off down the street. Indy ran after them, yelling, "Wait, what about us?" The car didn't stop. Nat dashed up to Indy and tugged on his arm.

_"Indy, you've got to hide!" _she cried frantically in his mind, _"Hurry!"_

Indy looked around at the street. No place to hide there. He sprinted back to the house they had been in before, Nat right behind him. He burst though the door, hearing the man's voice saying,

**"... do not remove goggles or turn around until ten seconds after first light..."**

Indy knew he only had about thirty seconds. He rushed around the house, looking for a place that would protect him. The fireplace was out because even if the explosion didn't get him, the radiation would. The same went for cupboards.

_Where can I hide? Where? _he thought, nearly panicking. He heard the man say,

**"Ten seconds to first light... nine... eight..."**

Indy turned his head and saw his salvation: a lead-lined refrigerator. He wrenched open the door... and stopped.

_Only one of us will fit,_ he thought, _What about Nat?_

Nat brushed past him and ripped the shelves out of the refrigerator.

_"Don't worry about me,"_ she said firmly, _"I'll be fine."_

**"...five ... four..."**

"But—"

_"No time, Indy, get in there!" _Nat shoved Indy as hard as she could into the fridge. He barely fit , but it worked.

**"...three ... two..."**

Nat and Indy both moved to shut the door, but some stuff from the fridge blocked the door from closing. Indy swept it out of the way with his hand, and Nat slammed the door.

**"...one..."**

And then the world seemed to end.

NNNNN

Just before the man said "one," Nat threw her arms around the refrigerator and put up an energy shield around herself. She had wanted to put one around the entire fridge, but she didn't have time. She felt fairly certain it would protect her, but she still prayed fervently that she and Indy would be safe. Even though she was already physically blind, she closed her eyes. She also turned off her mental seeing. She had no wish to witness this.

NNNNN

Even through the thick walls of the refrigerator, Indy was nearly deafened by the explosion when it came. He felt the fridge go flying through the air, how far he couldn't tell. After at least ten seconds of being airborne, the fridge hit the ground and bounced several times, seemed to roll down a hill, skidded for a while, and finally... stopped.

Indy pushed open the refrigerator door and rolled out. He lay on the ground for a few seconds, gasping for breath. He was very bruised and his ears were ringing, but he was alive. He sat up a little slowly and looked around. The first thing he saw was a strange, glowing ovoid shape stuck to the side of the refrigerator. After a moment Indy realized it was Nat clinging to the fridge with one of her energy shields around her. The glowing shield vanished and Nat flopped off the refrigerator onto the ground. She lay there, gasping even harder than Indy had been, and finally sat up. She shook her head and slowly opened her eyes. She smiled at Indy, and he heard her say, _"I think we made it, Indy."_

Indy got to his feet. "Maybe," he said aloud,"I can't be sure yet." He offered Nat his hand. She stared at it nervously.

"Just take it," he said in a slightly exasperated tone. After a second he added, "I'm not going to hurt you."

Nat took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. They walked up the small hill they were on, and when they reached the top they witnessed a terrible sight. A huge mushroom cloud was rising from the place where the fake town had once been and where there were now only charred ashes. After a long, shocked silence, Indy said, "We have to find the military base that set this thing off. It can't be far."

_"Agreed. Let's go,"_ Nat responded, and the two of them set off again, the mushroom cloud looming over them and blotting out the sun.

...

In case you are wondering, I gave Natalia the nickname Nat because I thought it suited her, and also because it seems like people with weird nicknames flock to Indy... think about it...

Woo-hoo! Please review! Oops, that rhymed... Oo


	4. Chapter Three: Reflections

Hi there! I thought I should get this next chapter up since I'm starting school.

Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and alerted this! I've also gotten some author alerts! This makes me very happy, but the way to make me the most happy (which means quicker updates… -) is to send me reviews. I love to get real input and stuff. Praise is nice, too…

This chapter is from my OC's point of view, and it's kind of fun. At least, part of the time it is. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Indiana Jones or any of the stuff related to it, except for my OC. Or does she own me?...

* * *

Chapter Three: Reflections

Nat sat all alone in a waiting room at the military command center, trying to be unobtrusive and yet keep tabs on Indy. It had taken them nearly an hour to locate the command center, and then Indy had had to convince the men there that he really had been near and survived the atomic blast. He had finally gotten them to scan him for radiation, and about two seconds after they had they'd hurried him off to be decontaminated. They had scanned Nat , too, and been surprised to find that she showed no sign whatsoever of atomic radiation. They'd tried to question her, but she had just shaken her head. Now she was waiting alone outside the room where they were questioning Indy. She was using her abilities to listen in on the conversation.

From what she could understand, the men questioning Indy were asking him about all his dealings with his former friend, (_What was his name,_ Nat thought), Mac. The men practically accused Indy of being a Communist, which made Nat very angry on his behalf. She wanted to burst into the room and tell the men what idiots they were, but she knew that to do so would be very dangerous, not just for her but for Indy, as well.

Now the three men were discussing the box Irina had wanted. Indy told the men about his previous experience with it, and asked what its contents really were. The men didn't know. Nat picked up some of Indy's prior memories and shuddered. She hadn't been able to figure out why Irina wanted the thing. In fact, she'd hardly been able to find out anything from Irina for a while. Nat guessed that Irina had used the artifact she had used on Nat on herself as well, perhaps modifying it slightly after its original use. The idea of this frightened Nat because it meant that she had an extremely difficult time figuring out the intentions of a person that would be beneficial for everyone to find out about.

Just as Nat was considering all of this, she sensed several people approaching and stiffened. A couple of American soldiers came in, flanking another military man who strode purposefully towards the room where Indy and his questioners were. Nat sensed that this man had come to help Indy and almost smiled. The man looked curiously at her for a moment, then burst through the door into the next room, leaving the other two soldiers behind. They took up positions on either side of the door, and Nat did her best to ignore them as she re-expanded her mental hearing.

Nat listened to the man who had just entered the next room admonish the questioners and vouch stoutly for Indy. She felt a great sense of relief.

_Good, Indy's all right!_ she thought, _Now we just have to get me safe, too…_

Nat suddenly realized that the conversation next door had turned to her sister. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Now she was "seeing" what was happening in the next room, just as though she was there. One of the questioners was dropping an open file folder on the table in front of Indy, and Nat saw a picture of Irina in it.

_Oh, great, _she thought, _Now when they see me, they'll pick up on the fact that I look a lot like her._

Indy was confirming Irina as the one he had encountered. The other men all seemed to be very worried by this, and Nat couldn't blame them. Then suddenly, the moment Nat had been dreading came. One of the questioners asked about her and how she had come to be with Indy. The man who had vouched for Indy asked the questioners if they could bring her in so that they could all talk to her. One of the questioners walked over to the door, meaning to ask the soldiers outside to bring Nat in. Nat opened her eyes and brought her "vision" back to normal. She stood up, and the soldiers looked at her, a little startled. Just then the questioner opened the door, poked his head out, and said, "We need—" He noticed Nat standing up already and looked a bit surprised, but then he beckoned to her. Nat walked over and followed him into the other room.

As soon as she entered the room, Indy looked up and gave her a little smile. She smiled back nervously, and said fervently in his mind,_ "Please don't tell them who I am, Indy! Please?"_

_Don't worry, _he thought back, _Trust me._

The man who had vouched for Indy was offering Nat his seat. She took it and stared down at the table, letting her hair fall in front of her face to disguise its similarity to the picture of Irina still sitting on the table.

"So, who is this, Dr. Jones?" one of the questioners asked.

"More to the point, can we trust her?" the other said.

"I trust her," Indy replied," And you could too if you would let yourself trust anything." Indy's advocate chuckled at this.

"Be that as it may, we still want to know who this is!" the first questioner said, stung by Indy's words.

Indy sighed. "Her name is Natalia. She was a prisoner of the Russians. She helped me escape, so I helped her to as well. Any questions?"

"How do you know she's not a Russian spy?" The questioner who asked looked very smug for thinking of this.

Indy grinned. "Well, for one thing, she can't talk. It'd be kind of hard to be a good spy if you couldn't speak. How would you let your people know what you'd learned? How would you integrate yourself into any sort of environment where spy work takes place?"

"You could write things down," one of the questioners said, but even he looked a little doubtful of his own words. Indy's advocate turned to Nat and smiled kindly at her.

"Would you mind saying something for us?" he asked her," Or at least attempting to say something?"

_I could say something in your minds and scare all of you to death, _Nat thought, but she didn't. Instead, she did what she was asked to do. She opened her mouth and tried to force a sound out, but the only noise that came out was the sound of her exhaled breath. She tried again, to the same result.

"See? I told you," Indy said a little triumphantly. His advocate looked convinced, and even the questioners looked grudgingly accepting.

"Well," one of them said, "None of this changes anything." He leaned across the table towards Indy. "Let us say that for now, you and your little friend are of great interest to the Bureau."

The other questioner leaned over, too, and added, "Of very … great… interest…"

NNNNNN

Not seventy-two hours after the first time, Nat was sitting alone again, only this time she was in the relative safety of Indy's house. Indy's advocate had gotten a car to take Nat and Indy there, and the next day Indy had gone off to teach his college classes. That had been the day before, and Indy had set off again that morning, leaving Nat alone for the second day in a row. She didn't really mind the solitude. Indy let her read any of his books she wanted to, and she had been able to take a long bath the day before. The only thing Indy had done that she hadn't liked had been forcing her to get some sleep. Nat hated sleep. When she slept, she couldn't see or hear, and also her mind opened, allowing the thoughts and emotions of everyone near her to enter her mind and influence her dreams. When she had been around Irina and her soldiers this had been a dreadful experience, so Nat had taken to sleeping as little as possible. She had explained all this to Indy, and his only response had been," I can't see or hear when I sleep, either."

"_It's different for you," _she'd retorted,_ "Even though you're asleep the senses still exist. If someone comes into the room where you are you can hear them and wake up, but I can't. And even after I wake up, it takes a while for me to get my sight and hearing back. It's like my mind has to completely reset itself. Plus, dreaming about what other people are thinking and feeling is __not__ fun."_

'The only other person here is me," Indy had said, and that had been that. Nat had slept for nearly nine hours on the couch in Indy's living room. Her dreams had actually not been that bad, considering. The most frightening of her dreams had involved several rather large snakes. In the dream she had been afraid of them, but when she woke up she couldn't help but grin at the ridiculousness of it.

At this particular time, Nat was sitting on the couch wearing Indy's spare bathrobe and reading. She was wearing the bathrobe because she was washing her other clothes. Currently her clothes were soaking because Nat knew that they were incredibly filthy and in need of serious cleaning. She was actually hoping to get some new clothes, for the ones she had kept her from leaving the house. Some time before she had met Indy she had been forced to wear some Russian Army fatigues rather like her sister's, and she had still been wearing them at the time of her escape.

Nat was just thinking of getting up and dealing with her clothes when she heard the front door open. She jumped up, dashed into the kitchen, and ducked behind the counter, reaching out with her mind to figure out who was entering the house. When she realized it was Indy she sighed with relief, but then she sensed someone was with him. She decided the best way to handle this would be to remain hidden and asked Indy what was going on. She entered Indy's mind and said, _"You're here earlier than you said you would be. And who's that with you?"_

_A friend, _Indy responded.

"_Why are you back so soon?"_ Nat asked.

_Listen to our conversation,_ was the only thing Indy said back, so Nat listened to the men's words and thoughts. She soon picked up on the fact that Indy had to leave his job, the man with him was the dean of the college where Indy worked and he was also planning to leave his job, and that Indy was going to be leaving the country immediately. Nat almost gasped at this, but then she realized that if she did it would reveal her presence. The two men were now by Indy's desk, talking about life's hardships and aging. Nat listened sympathetically as Indy mentioned the losses of his father and a close friend. Since she was also hearing his thoughts, she knew that he was also thinking of a woman whom he had loved but had had to leave. Nat felt very sorry for Indy, and wondered what had happened to this woman he loved.

A few minutes later, Indy's friend left. Nat stood up from her hiding place and walked over to where Indy was sitting. Even though the bathrobe was extremely covering, she folded her arms across her chest and took short steps to keep it from flapping. Indy was sitting at his desk, staring at a picture Nat knew was of his father. After a few seconds he looked up at he and asked, "So did you find out why I'm here?"

"_Yes." _Nat paused, then said imploringly, _"Please let me come!"_

"What?"

"_Let me come wherever you're going! You're the first kind person I've met for a very long time, and I don't want to be alone again!"_

Indy actually chuckled. "You think I wasn't planning to bring you along? And I thought you could read thoughts. Of course you're coming, Nat."

"_Oh." _Nat felt a little foolish.

Indy stood up and walked around the desk towards the bedroom. "We have to pack light," he called over his shoulder, "And I also think we'll have to find something else for you to wear. Nothing you have is suitable, except maybe the boots."

Nat followed him as far as the bedroom door. She leaned on the doorframe and said, _"I agree. What did you have in mind?"_

"Well…" Indy dug through his closet and pulled out a few items. He turned to face her, a little smirk on his face. "What about these?" He threw the clothes and Nat caught them.

"_I'll try them,"_ she said, went to where she was soaking her clothes and picked up her underclothes, then headed for the bathroom. She went in and shut the door, making sure it locked. She was just setting the clothes down and fumbling with the tie of the bathrobe when something caught her eye. She turned and almost jumped.

The thing she had seen turned out to be her reflection in the mirror. Nat stared, fascinated. She couldn't remember the last time she had looked in a mirror, but she knew it had been some time before Irina had changed her because she had never looked so strange to herself before. She had told Indy that her mental seeing was different than normal seeing, but she hadn't really explained what she meant, or even really thought about the differences much until now. The main difference between normal seeing and her mental vision was colors. She could see black and white well, but the only other colors she could see as clearly as before were brown and blue. Green was all right. Red was the worst. Right now, the only thing she could see of her reflection that looked like a normal color were her hair and eyes. The other colors in her face were strange, almost distorted.

_My face has thinned some, _she thought, _It makes me look even more like Irina. _She looked carefully at her eyes and gasped. _My eyes! They're lighter! They used to be a much darker blue… _Then she caught sight of something else. _What's that on my neck? Some sort of strange mark… _She touched the mark, which looked like a strange sort of tattoo. It was about two inches long, and on the left side of her throat. It looked like two slightly pointed ovals with a smaller oval in between them, vertically. There were little half-circles connected on either side of the smaller oval and four short lines radiating out from the spaces between where the half-circles and larger ovals met the little oval. Suddenly Nat knew that the mark was from the experiment performed on her. She stared at it for nearly a minute, willing it to disappear. Then Indy's voice made her jump.

"How do they fit?" he called through the door.

"_Um… I haven't put them on yet. Just a minute."_

About five minutes later, Nat stared at herself in the mirror again, only this time her mouth was twitching.

"_Are these your clothes, Indy?"_she asked.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" he called back.

Nat opened the door. _"They're a bit… big."_

Indy stared at her. "You can say that again," he said, trying not to laugh. Saying that the clothes were a "bit big" on Nat was a huge understatement. Since Indy was easily a foot taller than her and much wider, the shirt sleeves and pant legs fell well past Nat's hands and feet. The shirt itself thoroughly disguised her figure, but it also made her look as though she was wearing a small collared tent with buttons. She had to hold the pants up to keep them from falling straight off. Indy struggled with himself for several seconds, and finally succumbed to his suppressed laughter. Nat laughed too, but she made hardly any noise at all. After a few minutes Indy stopped and gasped for breath, still grinning.

"Well, I guess we could cut off the pant legs a bit, and maybe part of the sleeves too, but I don't have a clue what to do with the rest."

Nat looked down at herself critically. _"Hmmm…" _she said softly,_ "Well, I think I might be able to sort of tie the sides of the shirt so that it isn't quite so… billowy. And if you have a sewing kit and a belt I can have, I might be able to do something with the pants, as well."_

"I'll look around." Indy started off, then turned back and said," You know, Nat, I think almost anything you do to that will be an improvement."

"_Just get me the stuff, Indy!"_

"All right, all right!"

It took Nat nearly half an hour, but when she had finished her alterations her clothes really did look much better. The sleeves and pant legs had been cut shorter and then cuffed to hide the raw edges. The shirt had been ingeniously tied at either side so that it fit around a little better. Nat had also done a little clever stitching at the waist of the pants to make it fit better in both width and length. She had cinched in the rest with a spare belt of Indy's. He had also found her an old coat that concealed the shirt knots at her hips and the slightly pleated looking waistline of the pants. Nat had also coiled her hair up on top of her head and tied it with a piece of string, and then Indy had given her one of his spare hats. It completely covered her hair and part of her face, as well. She had then put on her brown calf-high lace-up boots, pulled the pant legs down over them, and admired the effect in the mirror.

"Not bad," Indy said, looking too.

Nat grinned at him. _"Let's get going,"_ she suggested.

It was the work of a few minutes to pack two suitcases. When they had finished, they headed out, Indy locking the front door behind them. The train station was only about a mile away, so they walked there, Nat doing her best to be inconspicuous. When they reached the station Indy went and bought their tickets, and then he and Nat waited on the platform for their train to arrive. It came about fifteen minutes later, puffing steam and squealing its brakes. Nat stared at it. She was desperately hoping that no one would attempt to speak to her on this trip, and the sight of the huge train made her realize just how many people she would be coming in contact with. Indy touched her arm and she flinched instinctively away.

"It's just me," he said quietly, "Come on, let's find our compartment."

They started off down the platform, looking at the train cars. Finally Indy said, "Here it is," and went over to the door of one of the cars. He shooed Nat up the stairs in front of him and prepared to follow, but when he'd put one foot up on the step he stopped and looked back. Nat gave him a few seconds of reminiscing before saying softly, _"Come on, Indy."_ He looked up at her, took one glance back, then turned fully away from his home and walked up the steps after Nat. They found their seats swiftly and stowed their luggage in the overhead rack. They had just sat down on their bench seat with Indy next to the window when Nat heard something.

"_Hey, Indy,"_ she said, nudging him, _"What's that weird sound?"_

Indy listened carefully, then muttered back, "That's strange. It sounds to me like a motorcycle, but why would anyone ride a motorcycle through in a train station?..."

* * *

If you look on my home page you will see a picture of the mark on Nat's neck. Look if you want.

Woot! Our first mention of Mutt! A little preview for you: the next chapter will be told almost entirely from Mutt's point of view! Fun! Hard, but fun…

Please, please, please review! Pretty, pretty, pretty please…..


	5. Chapter Four: Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Hi! How's it goin'? Thank you to all people who reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story! It makes me so happy!

Well, here is something that will make you happy… MUTT IS HERE! Yes, this is the first chapter with him in it! So fun! I do warn you now, though, if you don't like the way I portray him, you'll either have to deal or stop reading this story. I think I portray him extremely accurately, but everyone has their own ideas.

I have to at least mention the fact that I heavily relied on the movie novelization when I wrote this chapter. I normally never do that, but I was going insane trying to remember the exact sequence of events, so I gave in. sniff

I would also like to give my dad (yeah, you read that right,) a HUGE thank-you for giving me the invaluable information of how a motorcycle turns on… hehheh Pretty sad that I didn't know, but now I do, so that's ok. I guess…

Another weird thing I noticed… the chapter titles as they're listed in the little contents thing is so messed up. The real chapter titles, however, are at the beginning of every chapter. Please try to ignore the messed-up ones. Thanks.

One last thing. I'm changing the picture on my page, so I hope everyone got to see the picture I mentioned in the last chapter that wanted to.

Anyway, on with the story! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Indiana Jones or any of the characters in the original. I just have fun making them do things…

…

Chapter Four: Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Mutt Williams rode through the train station on his motorcycle, keeping a sharp lookout for the man his mother had sent him to find. He had reason to believe the guy was somewhere in the station because he thought he'd caught a glimpse of him entering it. Most people would have had a very hard time picking the guy out of a crowd after only having read a physical description, but Mutt had always been good at recognizing faces. Since the train station was a bit crowded, Mutt decided he would have to ask the ticket man if he'd seen anyone who looked like this guy. Normally Mutt would never have stooped that low, but this was important. If he missed the guy, the people he loved would be killed.

The ticket man, after giving Mutt an apprehensive look, said that yes, a man who fit that description had just bought two and should be boarding his train right about then. Mutt, not wanting to waste any time, just nodded at the man, hopped back on his motorcycle, and roared off towards the platforms.

As he rode down the platform, Mutt received several more odd looks. He knew that they were most likely given to him because of his motorcycle and his clothes, and almost grinned at the thought. No matter what other people, including his mother, said about them, he loved his bike and the clothes he wore to match it. The bike gave him freedom and an aura of coolness, and the clothes were comfortable, looked good on him, and expressed his rather rebellious attitude. Mutt almost laughed as two old women darted out of his way giving him dismayed looks, but then he remembered why he was there and started looking seriously for the man.

The search didn't take long. Almost immediately after beginning to truly focus on his task, Mutt caught sight of a familiar face out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and saw the man sitting next to the window of the train car Mutt was riding past. Mutt stared at the man as long as he could while going past to make sure it was the right guy, but as soon as he was sure, Mutt heard a train whistle and the train the man was on started to move. Mutt, who had been planning to get off his bike, walk back, and talk to the guy, was a little annoyed by this new complication, but he didn't let it get to him. It just meant he would have to get a little fancy, that was all. He turned his motorcycle in a quick about-face and zoomed off to catch up with the man's train car.

When Mutt reached the train car, he slowed down a bit and yelled up at the guy.

"Hey, old man!"

The guy didn't even flinch, let alone turn. Mutt knew he would have to think of something that would catch the man's attention. After concentrating for a second Mutt remembered the man's name: Dr. Henry Jones, Jr. The name gave him an idea.

"Hey, professor!" he yelled.

The man turned. It was definitely the man Mutt had been sent to find; he matched the description exactly. The man stared down at Mutt, clearly wondering what a teenager wearing a leather jacket and riding a motorcycle could want with him.

"Are you Dr. Jones?" Mutt called up to him. He knew the answer, but he still had to check.

The man nodded, looked ahead down the platform, then looked back at Mutt and said, "You're running out of platform, kid."

Mutt glanced ahead. He had plenty of platform, in his opinion, and he wondered how this Dr. Jones could possibly think he didn't have enough. He decided to ignore the man's comment and continue his questioning.

"You know a guy named Harold Oxley?" Mutt asked. This question seemed to surprise Dr. Jones.

"Harold Oxley, the archaeologist?" he called back.

"Yeah."

"What about him, kid?"

Mutt had to swallow hard to force his next words out.

"They're gonna kill him."

Dr. Jones looked surprised, but he didn't do any of the things Mutt had been expecting, such as saying that the idea was impossible, or that Mutt had to be lying or joking. Instead, he got up, grabbed a couple of suitcases from an overhead rack, and hurried off down the car out of Mutt's line of vision. A few seconds later the man appeared at the door of the car, walked down the steps, looked down at the ground moving past him for a second, and then, with the air of someone who has done something many times, he stepped off the moving train. Immediately after his feet touched the ground, the man started hurrying after the train. Mutt followed slowly on his motorcycle, a little fascinated with the man's actions.

Dr. Jones was handed his suitcases by someone Mutt couldn't see. But instead of hanging on to them, Dr. Jones dropped them onto the platform as soon as he had them in his hand. Mutt had to swerve sharply to avoid hitting the second one. Then, now nearly running to keep up with the train, Dr. Jones helped another person jump down onto the platform. The two of them ran a few more yards to keep themselves from tripping and falling; then they slowed to a halt. Mutt rode up and stopped beside them.

In Mutt's opinion, Dr. Jones was a fairly average-looking man, but the person with him was rather odd. The person was quite small, and wearing men's clothes that were much too big. The person also had on a hat that was pulled low so that it covered most of its wearer's face. Mutt couldn't tell if the person was male or female, old or young.

Dr. Jones walked right up to Mutt and said, "Ok, kid, you've gotten my attention. There's a diner a few blocks north and west of here, go there and save us a table. We'll be there in five minutes to talk."

Mutt was a little annoyed at being told what to do by a guy he didn't even know, but he decided that this wasn't the best time to argue. Instead, he nodded, turned his motorcycle, and drove off. As he did, he caught a glimpse of Dr. Jones and his odd companion walking back down the platform to retrieve their now-battered suitcases.

Mutt found the diner in about a minute and parked his motorcycle outside. There was already a long line of motorcycles there, and as Mutt walked into the diner he found that it was crowded with large groups of bikers and lettermen. The groups seemed to be doing the best they could to ignore each other. There were no empty tables, and by the time one opened up Mutt could see Dr. Jones and his companion approaching the diner. They walked in, spotted Mutt, and threaded their way through the crowd towards him. The three of them went over to the empty table and sat down. The first thing Dr. Jones did after taking off his hat was ask, "How do you know Harold Oxley?"

Mutt pulled off his cap and set it on the table, taking a picture out of it as he did so. The picture was a few years old, and it showed him and Oxley standing side by side with their arms around each other's shoulders. He held the picture out to Dr. Jones, who took it and scrutinized it.

"That's Ox," Mutt said, pointing at the picture.

Dr. Jones nodded and murmured, "Haven't spoken to him in twenty years." After a minute he handed the picture back to Mutt and said, "Oxley was a brilliant guy. One of the best."

Mutt put the picture back into his cap. "The best," he said, meaning it.

Dr. Jones smiled reminiscently. "But he could get on tangents… talk you right to sleep sometimes."

Mutt grinned. "When I was a kid, that's how I did get to sleep. The Ox was better than a glass of warm milk." After saying this, Mutt decided it was time to introduce himself. He stuck his hand across the table and stated, "Name's Mutt. Mutt Williams."

Dr. Jones shook his hand. "Mutt?" he said slightly incredulously.

Mutt drew his hand away. "Yeah."

Dr. Jones looked ready to laugh as he asked, "What kind of a name is that?"

Mutt was annoyed. People always said something like that about his name, and it bugged him. "It's the one I picked," he snapped, "You got a problem with it?"

"Take it easy," Dr. Jones said soothingly, but he still looked amused. Mutt reluctantly tried to calm himself.

"So," Dr. Jones asked, "What was Oxley, your uncle or something?"

Mutt shrugged. "Kind of. My dad died in the war, and the Ox helped my mom raise me." He reached into a pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out his trusty comb. Mutt was actually very fastidious about his appearance; he hated to look messy. He reached over and dipped the comb into a soda on the next table, then ran it through his hair. Dr. Jones looked a little surprised and grossed out by this, but he covered by checking his watch and saying, "We've got one last train to catch, so if you've got a story, tell it." Mutt would have gladly obliged, but there was still something bothering him.

Mutt had noticed that Dr. Jones' companion was just sitting there, looking down at the table. The person hadn't even taken its hat off yet. This bothered Mutt because he had some very personal stuff to share and he didn't know a thing about one of the people who would be listening.

"Well, you know my name and I know yours, so when are you gonna introduce me to your friend?"

Dr. Jones glanced at his silent companion and, taking a page from the person's book, said nothing.

"C'mon," Mutt almost groaned. When Dr. Jones still did nothing, Mutt stated defiantly, "I won't tell my story 'till I know everyone I'm telling it to."

Dr. Jones gave him one last, long, searching look, then sighed. He gestured at his companion and said, "This is Nat. We… met each other not too long ago," his companion twitched at this, "and we've stuck together ever since."

"So, can I trust—" Mutt suddenly realized that he still didn't know for sure if the person was male or female. He decided to finish his sentence with, "… Nat?"

"I do," Dr. Jones responded calmly. After a second he added, "Besides, why are you worried about that? You just met me, but you're willing to tell me your story."

"That's different," Mutt retorted, but he was annoyed at himself for not thinking of this point. He took out his annoyance by turning to Dr. Jones' companion and snapping out, "So, Nat, are you just gonna sit there and do nothing, or are you gonna say something?" The person didn't move for a few seconds; then quite suddenly did two things, one of which made Mutt very glad he'd asked his question, the other making him desperately wish he'd just stayed quiet.

The person raised its head and pushed its hat back, which revealed that Nat was a young woman. And not just any young woman. An extremely pretty young woman with incredibly light blue eyes, the like of which Mutt had never seen before. This by itself was enough to make Mutt jump slightly, but what she did next nearly made him fall out of his chair. Giving Mutt a little smirk, she spoke… but not out loud. Mutt heard a young woman's voice say quite clearly in his head, _"And what makes you think I'm not going to say anything?"_

"Holy shit!" Mutt cried, leaping backwards. His chair tottered and he grabbed at the table to keep from falling to the ground. Several people looked over at him, startled by his sudden outburst. He yanked himself back upright and started to say in a loud voice, "How the—"

"_Shhh!"_ Dr. Jones and the young woman's voice hissed at the same time; one out loud, the other in Mutt's mind. Dr. Jones continued by saying, "Can you keep it down? You're drawing unnecessary attention to us!"

Mutt struggled to relax and continue breathing. Finally he muttered through clenched teeth, "How the hell did you do that? You could have given me a little warning before… before saying something in my head!"

Nat had been looking around nervously since Dr. Jones had mentioned 'unnecessary attention,' but at Mutt's words she turned back to him, her smirk returning. She said in his mind, _"If In—I mean, Dr. Jones, had given you a warning, you wouldn't have believed him. And about how I'm doing this, it's a long story. Suffice it to say… it wasn't my choice."_ As she said these last words, her expression changed from that of a teasing young woman to that of a scared and vulnerable one. Dr. Jones jumped in.

"We don't have time to hear Nat's story right now, kid. We still haven't heard yours."

Mutt had nearly forgotten his mission in the excitement of the last few minutes, but Dr. Jones' words snapped his mind back to it. With a sigh, he thrust the thoughts about Nat's strange ability to the back of his mind and began his tale.

"Six months ago, my mom got a letter from the Ox. He was down in Peru. He said he'd found some sort of skull; a crystal skull."

"Like the one Mitchell-Hedges found," Dr. Jones mused. "Back in college, Ox and I were obsessed with the Mitchell-hedges skull. Do you know anything about it?"

Mutt snorted. "You kidding? That obsession didn't end in college for Ox, he could talk about that thing 'till the cows came home. But what was it exactly, an idol or something?"

"More likely a deity carving. Meso-American. There're a few crystal skulls around the world; I saw one at the British Museum. Impressive craftsmanship, but that's about it."

(As Dr. Jones had talked, Mutt had noticed a waitress delivering several bottles of beer to the lettermen at the next table. He reached over and casually snagged one of the bottles from her tray. Nat looked amused by this, but Dr. Jones frowned slightly, snatched the bottle out of Mutt's hand, and returned it to the waitress's tray. She didn't notice any of this.)

Mutt was slightly confused by Dr. Jones comments about the skull. Oxley's description had been a lot different. He decided to express this by asking, "Then why was Ox going on and on about its special powers?"

Dr. Jones grinned. "He always did have some odd theories about those skulls."

Mutt was not amused. He struggled not to snap as he said, "Laugh all you want, but Ox said he'd really found it this time. This skull was real different, he said, and he was off to a place called Akator with it." The word Akator meant nothing to Mutt, but it clearly meant a lot to Dr. Jones because he leaned swiftly across the table and asked "Akator? He said that? Are you sure?"

Mutt tried not to lean back away from Dr. Jones intent face, which was now very close to his own. "Yeah, I'm sure," he answered, "What is that place?" Dr Jones sat back and explained.

"A lost city in the Amazon. The conquistadores called it El Dorado. Supposedly, the Ugha tribe was chosen by the gods seven thousand years ago to build a great city out of solid gold. They say it had aqueducts, paved roads, technology we wouldn't see again for five thousand years. In 1546, Francisco de Orellana disappeared into the Amazon looking for it. So did a British explorer, Colonel Percy Fawcett, in the 1920's. I nearly died of typhus searching for it myself. I don't think it exists."

Mutt was very impressed by Dr. Jones' story, but something was bothering him. "So why would Ox want to take the skull there?" he queried.

Dr. Jones responded instantly. "Because of a legend. It's said that a crystal skull was stolen from Akator sometime in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. They say that whoever finds the skull and returns it to the temple will be given control over its power."

"_Fascinating,"_ Nat's voice murmured in Mutt's mind, but she shivered slightly as she said it. Mutt leaned across the table and said in a low voice, "A power! So what's the power?"

Dr. Jones suddenly turned annoyed. "I don't know, kid," he snapped, "It's just a story."

Mutt was a little surprised at this change in attitude. He hadn't thought Dr. Jones had it in him. He decided this was a good time to continue his story.

"From his letter, my mom thought the Ox was going crazy." He tapped his head to illustrate. "Smog in the noggin. She went down to find him, only someone had kidnapped him. Now they've got her, too. Ox hid the skull someplace, and if my mom doesn't come up with it, they're gonna kill 'em both." Mutt sighed; then said a little pointedly, "She said you'd help."

Dr. Jones looked confused. "Me?" He thought for a minute; then asked, "Who is your mother again?"

Mutt realized he had neglected to mention this important piece of information. He quickly said, "Mary, Mary Williams." When Dr. Jones still looked confused, Mutt added, "Don't you remember her?"

Dr. Jones' expression changed to a little smirk. "There've been a lot of Marys, kid," he said, chuckling slightly.

_That does it,_ Mutt thought. He leaped to his feet and slammed his hand down on the table. Dr. Jones jumped very slightly, as did Nat and several other people in the vicinity. Leaning across the table so that his face was very close to Dr. Jones', Mutt snarled, "Shut up! That's my mother you're talking about, ok? That's my mother!"

Dr. Jones barely looked fazed at all, but his expression did become more serious. He looked straight into Mutt's eyes and stated, "You don't have to get sore all the time just to prove how tough you are." Mutt glowered at him, but Dr. Jones just let out a little sigh and said quietly, "Sit down." Mutt forced himself to relax and sat back down.

After he had calmed down sufficiently, Mutt resumed his original subject.

"My mom said if anyone could find the skull, it's you. Like you're some sort of… grave robber or something." He almost laughed at the mental image of middle-aged Dr. Jones poking through old tombs and fighting off bad guys. Apparently Nat found this idea funny as well, for she let out a little snort and covered her mouth with her hand to hide her grin. Dr. Jones, however, did not seem to see the humor in Mutt's words. He positively swelled with indignation and said in an annoyed tone, "I'm a tenured professor of archaeology!"

Mutt rolled his eyes and almost groaned. "Oh, that'll be a big help," he said sarcastically.

"_You never know, it might be."_ The sound of Nat's voice in his head made Mutt flinch, but he managed not to freak out. Instead, he continued where he'd left off.

"Look, my mom called me two weeks ago from South America, told me she'd escaped but they were after her. She said she'd just mailed a letter from Ox, and that I had to get it to you. Then the line went dead."

Both Dr. Jones and Nat looked very concerned at this. Mutt had to work very hard to keep wetness out of his eyes. He was extremely worried about his mother and Ox, and it was beginning to tell on him.

"Let's see the letter," Dr. Jones said grimly.

"Oh. Here." Mutt jerked himself back to the moment and reached into his jacket. He pulled an envelope out of one of the inside pockets and handed it to Dr. Jones. In a slightly sheepish tone, he said, "I opened it, but it's not any help." Dr. Jones pulled the piece of paper out of the envelope and looked at the strange markings on it.

"See?" Mutt continued, "It's just gibberish, not even in English." Dr. Jones continued to study the odd symbols until, quite suddenly, Nat stiffened. She nudged Dr. Jones, who glanced at her, then followed he gaze. He suddenly looked very worried.

"See those two bricks at the counter?" he said softly to Mutt. Mutt looked around and nodded. It would have been hard to miss the two huge men in suits who were staring so pointedly at him, Dr. Jones, and Nat.

"I don't think they're here for the milkshakes," Dr. Jones muttered. As if on cue, the two men stood up and started walking towards them.

"Who are they?" Mutt asked in a low voice.

"I don't know. Maybe FBI…"

But Dr. Jones was cut off by one of the men, who had reached the table.

"You vill come wid us," he said in a thick, completely obvious Russian accent.

"… or KBG," Dr. Jones corrected himself in an undertone.

Mutt could barely believe it. This Dr. Jones, who looked like just some middle-aged literary type, hung around with a beautiful young woman who spoke in your mind and suspected that FBI agents were following him, only the agents turned out to be Russian spies! And he hardly even looked surprised!

Nat, on the other hand, looked completely terrified. She shrank back from the two men, and seemed to become even smaller than she already was.

"Come outside. Now." The other KBG man moved in. "And bring letter wid you."

"What letter?" Dr. Jones asked. Before the men had reached the table, Mutt had noticed Dr. Jones slipping the letter under the table.

"The letter Mr. Williams just give you," the man replied. Now Mutt was feeling worried. These guys knew his name! His nervousness led him to snap, "Do I look like a mailman to you?"

The men frowned. "You vill come wid us," one of them said menacingly, "Or…"

Mutt didn't even think. He reached into the pocket of his jeans, pulled out his switchblade, flipped it open, and planted his fist on the table with the blade sticking up.

"Or what?" he said in his toughest, most annoyed voice. Dr. Jones looked a little impressed by this, but then he glanced over mutt's shoulder.

"Nice try, kid," he murmured, "but it looks like you brought a knife…"

Mutt turned his head just in time to see the Russians casually flick their coats back to reveal that they were carrying guns.

"… to a gunfight," Dr. Jones finished.

Mutt knew it was over. What could they possibly do? Dr. Jones was standing up, so Mutt got up, too. One of the KBG men reached over and pulled Mutt's switchblade out of his hand, and Mutt watched as the man put it in his coat. The other man had his hand inside his coat as though he had it on his gun.

"You!" he barked at Dr. Jones, "Make Ms. Spalko come, too."

_Ms. __Spalko?!_ Mutt thought, _That sounds kind of Russian!_

Dr. Jones reached over and gently touched Nat's arm. She jumped and glanced up at him.

"Come on, Nat," he said soothingly.

Nat slowly stood up and moved to stand by Dr. Jones. Mutt could see her hands clenching and unclenching. One of the KBG men gave Mutt a little shove.

"Outside," he growled.

The group started for the door. Dr. Jones leaned over to Mutt and whispered, "Punch this guy."

"Who?" Mutt asked, looking around confusedly.

Dr. Jones gestured towards a letterman their group was walking past. "Joe College," he answered, "Hit him."

Mutt realized what Dr. Jones' plan might be. As the letterman walked in front of him, Mutt handed the guy his cap and said, "Hey, hold this for me for a second." The letterman looked up, confused, and Mutt took his chance. He pulled back his right fist and slugged the guy as hard as he could in the jaw. The letterman went flying into the counter. Mutt barely had time to grab his cap back and admire his handiwork before a girl from the letterman's group screamed, "That's my boyfriend!" and punched Mutt in the jaw. Mutt staggered, caught off guard, and the letterman leaped back up and punched him, too. This time Mutt went flying and landed at the feet of a group of bikers.

"Get that greaser!" the letterman yelled, and his group charged. The bikers, recognizing Mutt as one of their own, rushed to his defense. Mutt scrambled to his feet and found Dr. Jones and Nat by his side. Dr. Jones handed him his switchblade and hissed, "Go!" The three of them rushed towards the door, leaving the KBG men fighting to get through the developing battle.

As they burst through the door, Mutt registered that the music in the diner had changed from a sappy love song the rock song, "Shake, Rattle, and Roll."

_Appropriate, _he thought distractedly, and sprinted around the corner to where his motorcycle was waiting. Dr. Jones and Nat followed him, since they had no idea which bike was his. As soon as Mutt reached it, he jumped on, reached in his pockets, and pulled out his motorcycle gloves. As he fumbled to get them on, he heard Dr. Jones cry, "Nat! What are you doing?" Mutt turned his head to see Nat leaping aboard one of the other bikes.

"_We won't all fit on one,"_ he heard her say.

"That's true, but you can't steal another motorcycle!" Dr. Jones was adamant.

"_My only other option is extremely conspicuous, you know that, Indy!"_

_Indy?_ Mutt thought a little incredulously as he struggled to pull on his second glove, _And he thought my name was weird!_

Just then, someone shouted from somewhere behind them. Mutt, Dr. Jones, and Nat all turned. The Russians were back, and running right for them. They heard a yell form the opposite direction, which turned out to be from a car pulling up that contained more Russians. Mutt finally managed to get his glove on, and he fumbled for the ignition.

"Get on, Gramps!" he yelled to Dr. Jones.

"But Nat—" Dr. Jones started. Nat cut him off.

"_I'll be fine."_ She jumped back off the other motorcycle. _"One extremely attention-getting escape coming right up… for me, anyway."_, Mutt noticed a strange light on the ground by her feet ut of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look her feet were at his eye level. Nat was standing in midair on what looked almost like a glowing surfboard. Mutt gaped, and, luckily, so did the KBG men. Only Dr. Jones didn't seem surprised. He leaped onto the bike behind Mutt and yelled, "Go, kid!" in his ear. Mutt didn't need any more urging than that. He turned the key, kicked down hard, and the motorcycle roared to life. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nat angle her feet up and go flying high into the air on her strange mode of transportation. Mutt slammed down the accelerator, and the bike nearly popped a wheelie as it zoomed forward. Mutt felt Dr. Jones' arms tighten around his waist and grinned. He'd never done anything like this before, and so far it was very exciting. The KBG men who were on foot leaped into a car that was parked nearby, and the ones that were already in a car hastened to follow their targets, but Mutt was already navigating the corner in front of the diner. The lettermen/greaser brawl had spilled out onto the side walk, but they took no notice of the new and much more dangerous chase that was beginning…

MMMMMMM

Nat flew high in the air on her energy shield, doing her best to keep Indy and their new associate in view. It was proving to be rather difficult because they kept taking unexpected turns and going inside buildings. Nat couldn't help but admire the young man Mutt's skill at driving a motorcycle, but she also wondered if the people inside the buildings were appreciating it as much.

While Indy and Mutt had talked, Nat had examined the young man's mind. She had found it to be most interesting: it was chaotic, yet there was an extremely efficient order to the chaos. In a weird way, it reminded her of Indy's mind.

_No wonder they get along so well, _she thought, and grinned to herself. A person below her looked up, and Nat deftly swerved to the side, out of the person's line of sight. Below her, her companions were playing just such a game of chase with the KBG men, and Nat wished she could swoop down and assist them in their escape. But, just before she had angled up into the air, Indy had thought at her, "_Don't come down, no matter what happens to us!"_ She knew he was right; if she were seen doing this, it would be extremely disastrous.

Just as she was thinking this, she heard Indy's voice in her head again. She could tell he was thinking the words as hard as he could; the result was that it almost sounded like he was shouting.

_I think we've got away from the Russians. We're heading to my house; meet us there._

"_Understood," _she said back. After a second, she added, _"Tell the kid—Mutt—I said, Nice driving."_

_Tell him yourself,_ Indy retorted, sounding amused.

"_No! He's driving; I don't want to startle him."_

"_Yeah, right…" _The tone was half realization, half teasing.

"_Agh, Indy!... See you back at the house."_

MMMMMMM

Mutt stood in front of the fireplace at Dr. Jones' house, looking into the mantelpiece mirror and combing his hair. It had gotten messed up during the high-speed chase, and he was carefully making sure every strand was back in its place. Dr. Jones was sitting on a couch behind him flipping through a book, looking for a way to translate Oxley's letter. The young woman, Nat, was standing off to Mutt's right, near one of the many large bookshelves in the room. She had removed her hat and pulled her hair out of the funny little bun it had been in. Mutt thought she looked even prettier than before with her hair down, but he hoped fervently that she couldn't hear him thinking this.

"I thought so. Koihoma." Dr. Jones' voice interrupted Mutt's thoughts. Mutt put his comb away and turned around.

"What's that?" he asked.

"An extinct Latin American language. Pre-Columbian syllabary system." Dr. Jones tapped a page of his book; he was clearly enjoying giving this lecture. "See these diagonal stresses on the ideograms? Definitely Koihoma."

Mutt looked at the strange squiggles, racking his brains in an attempt to remember if he knew what an ideogram was. He gave up and asked, "Do you speak it?"

Dr. Jones snorted. "Nobody speaks it; it hasn't been heard out loud in three thousand years." He flipped a few more pages. "I might be able to read a little, though, if I walk it through Mayan first." He squinted at a new page of squiggles, then reached into a pocket of his jacket and pulled out a pair of bifocals. As he slipped them on, Mutt decided it was time to see if this guy had a sense of humor. He cleared his throat and said, "You know, for an old man, you ain't bad in a fight."

Dr. Jones looked up at him. "Thanks a lot," he said sarcastically. Mutt decided to press him.

"So, what are you, like 80?"

Dr. Jones chose not to respond to this. Mutt nearly jumped when Nat's voice came into his mind.

"_In the game of young people versus old person, the score is 1-0."_

Mutt turned to face her and whispered as quietly as he could, "Did he hear that?"

"_No, but I think he just heard you,"_ Nat responded smoothly, _"If you want to say something to me without him hearing, just think the words hard, and I will hear them."_

"It's a riddle," Dr. Jones said suddenly. Mutt turned back around. Dr. Jones grinned up at him. "Leave it to Ox to write a riddle in a dead language."

Mutt had to smile at Dr. Jones' words because he knew them to be true. Only his eccentric caregiver/father figure would ever do something that erudite. Dr. Jones looked down at a piece of paper, which seemed to have his translation on it, and read, "Follow the lines in the earth only the gods can read to Orellana's cradle, guarded by the living dead." He paused for a second in thought, then said, "Only the gods can read—The Nazca lines!"

"The what?" Mutt asked, bewildered.

Dr. Jones jumped up and hurried over to the bookshelf that Nat was standing next to. She moved aside so he could reach the books. Without a second of hesitation, Dr. Jones grabbed a thick volume and flipped through a few pages. He held the book out, and Mutt saw a full page spread filled with pictures of strange designs.

"Geoglyphs," Dr. Jones explained, "Giant ancient carvings, scratched into the desert floor of Peru. From the ground, they don't look like anything, but from the sky…" He broke off and hurried back to the couch, where he snatched up his translation again. He glanced at it, then turned back to Mutt and Nat, his eyes glittering with excitement. "Only gods can read them, because only gods…" Dr. Jones pointed to the ceiling, "live up there." He set his book down and announced, "Oxley's telling us the skull is in Nazca, Peru."

There was complete silence in the room for several seconds. Then Mutt asked, "So when do we leave?" What startled him was the fact that Nat said exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. Dr. Jones didn't seem bothered by this at all.

"In just a few minutes," he said, grinning, "I just have to get a few things… wait here…" He rushed out of the room, muttering to himself. Mutt turned to Nat.

"Is he always like this?" he asked softly.

Nat shrugged. _"I've actually only known him for about three days, but he's been like this almost that entire time."_

"Maybe he is just like that, then," Mutt said, then added, "You've only known him three days? He wasn't kidding when he said you two met each other 'not too long ago.'"

"_That's his idea of humor,"_ Nat answered, smiling. Her smile made Mutt feel slightly lightheaded, and he couldn't help smiling back. Just then Dr. Jones re-entered the room. He had completely changed his neat attire to an ancient set of clothes, topped off with an even older fedora. Somehow, the clothes made him look tougher, more dashing. He also had what Mutt thought might be a bullwhip coiled and hanging from his belt.

"All right," he said briskly, "Kid, you ride that motorcycle of yours down to the train station and buy three tickets; here's the money," Dr. Jones handed Mutt several bills, "and Nat and I will walk and meet you there in a few minutes. Be careful."

"I will, professor, don't worry," Mutt answered in an almost soothing tone. As he headed for the door, he thought, _Boy, do I have a lot to get used to._

"_You got that right,"_ Nat's voice said in his mind, making him jump and reminding him just how much he would have to live with for a while.

...

Dude, that was long... This was 11 pages in Microsoft Word! Hope you enjoyed it!

FYI: I have been having trouble working on this story recently, and I've had another story that's been taking over my brain, so I am going to take a (hopefully) short break on this story. It may last a few months, even, but I promise... no, I SWEAR that I will come back and finish this story! I really want to, it's an awesome story, but it's giving me issues... Another FYI: The story that is taking over is for Dark Knight. If you are fans of that, too, I definitely recommend it (when it's posted, that is.) Wow, that just put me over 12 pages. That's a record for me!

Thanks for reading! Please review!


	6. Chapter Five: Traveling and Poncho Villa

Hello everyone! It's so good to be back! I hope you didn't miss me too much…

Well, I was finally able to watch our favorite movie again! (Is it your fave? Hmmm…) I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I kept picturing Nat in all the scenes and yelling, "Why isn't she there? I'm so sad!" It was fun.

A thank-you needs to go out to my dad the tech expert again, he helped me figure out what one of the planes was. Great thanks to for pointing out the fact that I put KBG and not KGB in the last chapter. I screamed in horror and almost went back and changed it, but then your review wouldn't make sense… Also, for those of you like Perminatly Lost In Thought who noticed the slight Mutt/Nat stuff in the last chapter, there's more in this chapter! And a lot more in the next one… heeheeheee! Anyway, a thanks of another kind to xxroxy-dogxx… thank you so much for saying that you think Nat is mysterious! I'm very happy that you think that, though I should point out that when I'm writing her I'm more like, "Oooh, poor baby girl! I love you, and I'm sorry I'm putting you through all this!" Nat is probably my favorite character, and I think she's completely adorable. Though she probably wouldn't like being told so…

FYI: I want to tell you guys this now. I'm going to be changing my pen name. When I post my next chapter, which may even be as soon as next Friday, my pen name should be changing to CrystalPhoenix! I'll explain why next time…

Well, I better get started on this chapter. It's hecka long, even longer than the last chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Indiana Jones or any of the characters in it. I just have fun with them…

* * *

Chapter Five: Traveling and Poncho Villa

Mutt knelt on the floor of an old commercial biplane, making sure his motorcycle was secure and thinking back over the long hours of travel he, Dr. Jones, and Nat had endured. It had been nearly 34 hours since they had left Dr. Jones' house, and Dr. Jones himself had estimated that they still had another three more to go. They had been in this particular plane for only about an hour, but the ride was so uncomfortable and turbulence-ridden that Mutt was almost wishing they could have taken the train all the way to Nazca, Peru.

_It would've been way slower, but it also would've been a hell of a lot less… jarring_, he thought miserably.

Their train journey had indeed been a lot more comfortable. Mutt had worried at first that he would have to leave his motorcycle behind, but then Dr. Jones had surprised him by arranging for it to be shipped ahead of them to Nazca. Mutt had hardly believed this bit of luck, and he had allowed himself to come out of his tough exterior enough to genuinely thank Dr. Jones. Dr. Jones had waved him off, saying, "Don't thank me now, kid. I haven't even really helped you yet. I just think we'll need the bike, that's all."

They had ridden the train for several hours, but Mutt had not been bored for a second of that time. Dr. Jones had asked Nat to tell Mutt her story, and, after over a minute of silence, she had agreed. Even though she had been sitting right next to Mutt, and even though he could hear her voice clearly in his mind, Nat had seemed a thousand miles away from him when she had told her story. Nat's story had made Mutt feel a wide range of emotions, the strongest of which was the realization of how normal his childhood had really been. Compared to Nat, it seemed as though nothing bad had ever happened in his life. He had asked her a lot of questions, especially about what had happened to her in the last few months. Nat had answered readily, but Mutt suspected that she might possibly be hiding something from him. Since most of the stuff she'd told him had been awful, Mutt guessed that whatever Nat was hiding must have been worse, which made him not really want to know what it was. There was still a part of him, however, that did want to know everything that had ever happened to Nat. She seemed afraid of… something, Mutt wasn't sure what, but he could also see that she was kind, intelligent, and that she had a surprisingly good sense of humor. He wanted to help her get over her fear and let her true personality come out more, but he had no idea how to let her know this.

_If Ox were here, I could ask him, _Mutt had thought, feeling a lump forming in his throat. He'd forced it to go away. _Maybe I can ask Dr. Jones about it…_

When the train had finally arrived in New York, the three of them had headed off to the airport, where Dr. Jones had bought tickets to Mexico City. They'd had to wait a while for their flight, so they'd found a small diner and eaten dinner. When they'd finished, they'd headed back to the airport, just in time to board their plane, a DC-3 passenger aircraft. It hadn't been as comfortable as the train had been, but it was tolerable. Nat had sat next to Dr. Jones during this leg of the trip, and Mutt had had to endure the almost non-stop prattling of the middle-aged woman next to him. She'd told Mutt about what seemed to be every single female relative she had in an attempt to set him up with one of them. She'd even shown him pictures of a few of them. Mutt had eventually been forced to pretend that he was asleep to make her leave him alone, but even then she'd continued to mutter to herself. The plane hadn't landed for very many fuel stops, but the flight had still taken nearly 16 hours. When the plane finally landed for the last time, Mutt had staggered off behind Dr. Jones and Nat with the woman calling after him, "If you change your mind about any of the girls, just give me a call!"

"What was that about?" Dr. Jones had asked, smirking slightly.

"You don't want to know," had been Mutt's only answer.

They'd gone through Customs, and had wound up having to run to make their next flight to Lima, Peru. They plane they'd boarded was of a make unknown to Mutt; it was a little smaller than the DC-3, and not nearly as comfortable. Mutt got to sit next to Nat again, with Dr. Jones just across the aisle. Dr. Jones had taught them a game in which you picked a category, such as geography, and took turns naming things in that category, only the thing you said had to start with the letter the last person's word had ended with. Mutt and Nat had played it for a while to pass the time. Nat was extremely good at it, but she swore solemnly that she wasn't cheating. The three of them had watched the sunset out of the window Nat was sitting next to. Eventually Dr. Jones had fallen into a doze, and Mutt and Nat had sat silently waiting for the flight to be over. Mutt had wished that he could sleep, too, but his mind had been too full. Thoughts of his mother, Ox, the crystal skull, and his odd companions had kept Mutt awake throughout the entire flight.

When the plane had finally landed in Lima, the first thing they had done after going through Customs again was go to try and locate Mutt's motorcycle. Mutt had been overjoyed to be reunited with his bike, and while he had checked it over Dr. Jones had looked for a plane that would take them to Nazca. He had eventually found the plane that they were on now, which brought them up to the present.

Mutt checked the last rope that bound his motorcycle to the floor in its wooden cage; then sat back on his heels. Dr. Jones was pulling his fedora down over his face so that he could attempt to get more sleep. He folded his arms and leaned back with a sigh. After a minute he sat back up, pushed his hat back, and turned to Nat, who was sitting somewhere behind Mutt.

"Have you slept at all?" he asked her a little sharply.

"_No,"_ she answered, sounding unfazed, _"And you __know__ why not, Indy."_

_Indy!_ Mutt thought to himself for about the fifth time. He couldn't get over the fact that Dr. Jones had thought his name, Mutt, was funny when the guy had his own odd name.

"Well, you should get some sleep," Dr. Jones persisted, "You too, kid," he added to Mutt. He pulled his hat back over his face and lay back down.

Mutt sat down on the floor of the plane. There were only two things that could pass for seats in this aircraft (except for the pilot and copilot seats, of course), and Dr. Jones and Nat were sitting on them. He tried to get comfortable, but didn't meet with much success. About twenty minutes later Mutt heard Dr. Jones let out a soft snore. He couldn't help grinning at the sound because it reminded him of Oxley.

_Dr. Jones is a lot like Ox, _Mutt mused to himself, _I can see why they were friends. I wonder where Ox is right now?_ _And Mom…_ Mutt's eyes felt a little wet. He blinked hard, trying to clear them. Suddenly he felt a small hand touch his shoulder. He whipped around.

It was Nat. She had crawled over to him and placed her hand on his arm. Mutt glanced down at her arm; then looked at her face. She had, when they had first started traveling, put her hair back up under her hat and worn it like that for hours and hours, but when they had boarded this plane she had taken her hat off and braided her hair. Therefore, Mutt could see her face quite clearly. To his surprise, her expression was one of deep sympathy, though how she could feel sorry for him after all the awful things that had happened to her in her own life was beyond Mutt. She glanced up at him; then returned her gaze to the floor.

"_Don't worry,"_ her voice whispered through his mind, _"We're on our way to help your mother and Oxley right now. And if anyone can find this crystal skull and save them, it's Dr. Jones." _A slight smile crossed her lips. _"I should know. So don't worry about them, they'll be all right."_ She glanced up at him again, then removed her hand from his shoulder, scooted back over to her seat, and stared out the window. Mutt watched her for several seconds; then turned his head away. It was a little disturbing to him that she'd known what he had been thinking about, but at the same time her voice and touch had been so soothing that he didn't really mind that she'd known.

_She's so mysterious and beautiful, but she's also so kind, _Mutt thought; then quickly glanced over at Nat in alarm. She'd heard what he'd been thinking earlier, she might have heard this thought, too. But she didn't move; her expression didn't change by even the slightest twitch. Mutt inwardly sighed with relief and tried to remember to guard his thoughts.

About three hours later, Dr. Jones woke up. The first thing he did was turn to Mutt and ask, "Did she sleep?" Mutt shook his head, and Dr. Jones groaned. "I told you to sleep, Nat!" he said in an exasperated tone. Nat didn't flinch.

'_You knew I wasn't going to," _she responded smoothly, _"You know I don't like to sleep."_

Dr. Jones gave up on her and turned back to Mutt.

"How about you, kid? Did you sleep?"

Mutt almost smiled. "No. I can sleep anytime."

Dr. Jones shook his head and muttered, "How did I manage to saddle myself with two rebellious teenagers? I wonder…"

"_Look!"_ Nat cried suddenly, pointing out the window. Mutt went over to her and looked, too. They were flying over a desert surrounded by mountains. There were strange, gigantic designs carved into the desert floor.

"The Nazca lines," Dr. Jones said from right behind Mutt. Mutt jumped, he hadn't heard Dr. Jones come over. "That means we're almost there."

"They're bigger than I thought they'd be," Mutt said softly, amazed by the huge shapes.

"_They're beautiful,"_ Nat murmured, tracing the designs onto the window with her finger, _"And so old… fascinating." _She turned and smiled at Dr. Jones. _"I can see why you love archaeology so much."_

Dr. Jones grinned back; then turned to Mutt.

"You'd better get that motorcycle of yours ready to go," he stated, "Because as soon as this thing lands, we'll be riding the bike into town."

About fifteen minutes later, the plane landed. It creaked and groaned loudly as it did so, which made Mutt feel very glad he was getting off. He had no wish to be on it when it took off again; one takeoff had been enough for him. When the plane stopped moving, Mutt untied his motorcycle and carefully wheeled it down the ramp. Nat followed him, and when Dr. Jones had finished thanking the pilot and copilot he joined them on the ground. The plane rattled off, leaving the three of them and the motorcycle in a large cloud of dust. When the dust had cleared, mutt looked at their surroundings. It was basically a vast, flat, dusty place with mountains all around.

"There's the town of Nazca," Dr. Jones said, pointing off to their left. Mutt looked where he was pointing, and, sure enough, there was a small town there.

"Ok. Let's go," he answered, getting on his motorcycle. He turned the key and kicked the starter. The bike immediately roared to life, none the worse for having traveled so far. Dr. Jones got on behind Mutt, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist.

"Follow us, Nat," he instructed, "Stay close to the ground this time, and as close behind us as you can get. When we reach the town, you'll have to walk."

"_Understood,"_ Nat answered, and the strange, glowing, surfboard-like thing appeared under her feet again. Mutt revved the engine just for the fun of it and headed off towards the town.

It only took a few minutes to get there. Many people looked up curiously as the bike rumbled past them, and Mutt felt a little self-conscious. With Dr. Jones yelling instructions in his ear, Mutt drove through a marketplace and into a large square. He killed the engine and chained his motorcycle to a small tree in the middle of the square. They waited for Nat to catch up, and when she came a few minutes later, Mutt asked "So, what do we do first?"

Dr. Jones grinned. "You two will wait here, while I go and ask the locals a few questions."

"Hey!" Mutt cried in outrage. They were looking for his mother and his guardian; he figured the least he could do was help to find clues of their whereabouts.

"_But Indy—"_ Nat started.

"No buts," Dr. Jones said firmly, "You two wait here with the motorcycle. When I've found something, I'll come back here and get you." He started to walk off. "This shouldn't take too long," he called back over his shoulder.

"_Great," _Nat said dryly, watching him walk away, _"That means we'll be here for__ever__."_

MNMNMNMNMNM

Nat sat on the dusty ground of the square, feeling intense boredom seeping through her entire body. It had been nearly four hours since Indy had left her and Mutt there, and the long wait was beginning to tell on them. Nat hadn't eaten anything for nearly eight hours, and she was now feeling so hungry that she was almost ready to jump up and grab some food from the nearest display in the marketplace. She restrained herself with some difficulty, and turned to look at her companion.

Mutt was sitting sideways on the seat of his motorcycle, idly playing with his switchblade. He and Nat had been taking turns sitting on the bike because it would have been a tight squeeze for both of them and Nat rebelled at the idea. She was starting to get used to Mutt, but she still didn't like to get too close to him, or to anyone, for that matter. Not even Indy, the person she felt the most comfortable with, could get within about eighteen inches of her without making her feel light-headed and panicky.

_Still, _Nat thought, turning her mental seeing towards Mutt without turning her head, _It's very nice to be able to see him clearly._ She was once again grateful that both Mutt and Indy had brown hair and eyes, and that brown was one of the colors she could see well.

Something that Mutt was doing distracted Nat from her unobtrusive observation of him. His playing with his switchblade had reached new heights. Instead of just lazily flicking it open and shut, he was now tossing it, flipping it, and catching it at various points on the handle and blade. Nat was so fascinated by this talent that she actually turned her head so that he could see her watching. She had watched for maybe thirty seconds when she felt a familiar mind approaching. She glanced up and saw Indy walking towards them, talking with two of the natives. Mutt noticed her head move and looked over his shoulder, following her gaze.

"Finally," he muttered, spotting Indy.

"_I know, really,"_ Nat answered, _"It only took him four hours."_

Mutt smiled at her. Nat had noticed that he didn't really smile much, but she knew enough of his worries to figure out why. She thought he had a nice, kind smile, and wished he would do it more.

_Maybe when we've found his mother and Oxley, he'll be happier and smile more, _she thought, _I hope so._

"What language is he speaking?" Mutt asked suddenly. Nat quickly figured out that he was talking about Indy. She reached out with her mind to try and answer his question, but she didn't meet with the correct success. Since she could read the thoughts of Indy and the people he was talking to, Nat could understand exactly what they were saying, but she couldn't even hear the language they were really using.

"_I don't know," _she answered Mutt, _All I know is, I can understand it."_

"Really? How?" Mutt looked very impressed.

"_Well, I—"_ But Nat was unintentionally cut off by Indy, who walked up just then. Without even a hello, he launched right into what he had learned.

"Finally! They saw him. Ox wandered into town a couple of months ago, raving like a madman." He paused slightly, letting this sink in, then went on, "The police locked him up in a sanatorium."

Mutt got quickly to his feet, ready to go. Nat got up smoothly for having sat on the ground for an hour, and asked, _"Which direction?"_

"It's this way…" Indy answered, pointing off through the busy marketplace. Without a word, Mutt started walking the way Indy had pointed, and Nat and Indy hastened to join him. The motorcycle remained behind, chained to its tree.

After a few seconds, Mutt turned to Indy and said, "I took Spanish, but I didn't understand a word of that." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, indicating the two men Indy had been talking with. "What was it?"

"Quechua. Local Incan dialect." Indy didn't particularly look as though he wanted to answer the question.

"Where'd you pick that one up?" Mutt asked, raising his eyebrows.

"It's a long story," Indy answered, looking even more reluctant.

"I've got time," Mutt said with a grin. Indy looked as though he wasn't going to elaborate, so Nat decided to speak up.

"_Come on, tell us, Indy,"_ she cajoled. Both Indy and Mutt looked at her, Mutt leaning around Indy to get a clear sight of her face. Nat did her best to assume a pleading expression. Indy sighed.

"Fine," he muttered, "I rode with Poncho Villa. A couple of his men spoke it."

Mutt's eyebrows shot up and his mouth dropped open. "Bullshit!" he almost yelled.

Indy smirked. "You asked."

"Poncho Villa?" Mutt couldn't take his eyes off Indy, and nearly tripped as a result. Nat covered her hand with her mouth to hide her smile.

"It was more like kidnapped." Indy's explanation only made Nat and Mutt more curious.

"By Poncho Villa?" Mutt asked incredulously.

"Yeah." Indy smiled slightly. "It was during the fight with Victoriano Huerta." He spit off to his left, right in front of Nat, and she leaped back so the spit wad wouldn't land on her shoe.

"How old were you?" Mutt queried.

"About your age." Indy was starting to look as though he was reminiscing a little. Nat saw a perfect opportunity to do something she'd been waiting to do for a while, and, after a moment's hesitation, took it.

"_Wait a minute," _she said, _"By Poncho Villa, I assume you mean Fransisco Villa, the Mexican revolutionary leader?"_ Indy nodded, impressed, but Mutt gave her an odd look. Nat picked up an emotion from him; he was wondering if she might be a little crazy. Nat smiled and went on. _"But Villa died in 1923. That was 34 years ago. If you rode with him before he died, and you were approximately 19 at the time… how old __are__ you, Indy?"_ Mutt started laughing at this, but Indy looked a little annoyed.

"That's not very funny," he muttered.

"_But you __know__ it is," _Nat retorted. She looked at Mutt behind Indy's back and gave him a wide smile. Speaking so only Mutt could hear, she said, _"In the game of young people versus old person, the score is now 2-0."_ Mutt grinned back before returning his attention to Indy.

"Your parents must've had a cow, huh?" he said, carefully negotiating around a particularly exuberant passerby.

Indy shrugged. "It worked out all right." After a pause, he added, "Things were a little tense at home."

"Yeah, me and my mom aren't exactly on the best of terms right now, either." Mutt tried to look nonchalant as he said this, but Nat could sense that he was upset by this fact. Indy must've noticed something, as well, for he gave Mutt a slightly pitying look.

"Treat her right, kid," he advised, "You only get one. And sometimes not for that long…"

These words struck a chord with Nat. She knew exactly what Indy meant, from personal experience. Her own mother was gone, never to return, and Nat regretted all the times she'd been even slightly upset with her. As she was thinking of this, she felt a distinct wave of emotion from Mutt. Apparently, he had just been having thoughts similar to hers. However, he responded out loud to Indy's advice indignantly.

"It ain't my fault, it's hers. She just got PO'd 'cause I quit school, she thinks I'm a goof or somethin'."

"You quit school?" Indy sounded incredulous. Nat grinned; she knew him well enough to know that he was having trouble understanding why anyone would want to discontinue their education.

"Oh, yeah, tons of 'em." Mutt's tone became a little disdainful and he went on, "Fancy prep schools that teach you chess and debate… and fencing. I'm good with a blade, but it's not anything I'm gonna use."

"_What do you mean, 'good with a blade'?"_ Nat asked. The phrase had made her curious. Mutt glanced at her.

"I won every match and tournament I was ever in," he answered quietly. His pride in this accomplishment seemed fairly reserved.

"_Really? That's amazing!"_ Nat smiled.

"You never finished school?" Indy repeated. He was obviously still trying to wrap his head around this concept.

"No. I think it's just a lot of useless skills. Wrong books." Mutt cleared his throat, suddenly looking nervous. "'Cause I love books," he hastened to add, "Me and Ox used to read all the time. But now I can pick them myself, you get me?"

"What do you do for money?" Indy asked, straightforward as ever.

Mutt shrugged. "Fix motorcycles."

Indy raised his eyebrows. "Plan on doing that forever?"

Mutt stiffened slightly, and Nat felt his emotions shift to annoyance and defiance. "Maybe I will, Teach," he snapped, "Is there something wrong with that?"

Nat hoped that Indy's teacher side wouldn't say something that crushed these feelings in Mutt. They were strong, and gave him a lot of character. To Nat's slight surprise, Indy answered, "Not a thing. If that's what you love doing, don't let anyone tell you any different." Nat found herself smiling at these words. She felt glad that Indy hadn't told Mutt to do something else, though why she felt glad she didn't know.

A few seconds after this conversation had ended, Indy slowed his pace.

"Here it is," he said, turning a little to his left. Nat looked up and saw a large building before her. The three of them turned and walked quickly towards it, and Nat could tell the other two were just as eager, if not more, than her to get inside. They were just going in the door when Nat froze.

"What's wrong, Nat?" Indy asked in a low voice.

"_I'm not sure,"_ Nat answered. She was fairly certain she couldn't accurately describe in words the sensation she'd just experienced. The closest thing she could relate it to was that it was as if someone she had only met a few times had called her name and then walked away, leaving her to try and remember who they were and how she knew them. She stood there in the door way thinking about this until she suddenly realized that Indy and Mutt were still standing beside her with worried expressions. _"I'm all right,"_ she assured them, _"Don't worry about me. Let's go in."_ She walked the rest of the way into the building, the others swiftly following.

Inside, they found an old woman wearing a nun's habit sitting at a very dilapidated desk. She stood up when they entered.

"May I help you?" she asked, and it took Nat a few seconds to realize that she wasn't speaking English.

"Yes, please, we're looking for a man named Harold Oxley," Indy responded, using the same language the woman had used. Nat knew he was speaking it, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't hear the original language. Indy was now giving a physical description of Oxley. The nun nodded vigorously.

"Yes, yes, that man. I remember him. You should come with me, sir." She gestured for Indy to follow her.

"_Come on," _Nat said to Mutt, _"She knows who Oxley is, and she wants us to follow her."_ Mutt glanced at her; then quickly moved to walk after Indy and the nun. Nat followed him.

The nun led them down a steep flight of steps, talking all the while.

"The man, the one you call Oxley, he was here a couple of months ago," she said, "Then men, men with guns, came and took him away, I don't know where. He was as strange man, quite deranged, I'm afraid, and obsessed with something. He drew strange pictures and things all over his cell. It was very disturbing to the others."

Nat could hear Indy translating the woman's words for Mutt, but she was distracted by an abrupt change in the atmosphere around her. It was so strong that it was almost like being hit in the stomach. Nat's mind had suddenly been flooded with a deluge of chaotic thought patterns. It was as though she had been thrust into a room full of wild hyenas. She winced, wondering where these minds had come from. As she and the others walked around a corner, she knew.

The corridor they were now in was lined with cells, and in the cells were the patients of the sanatorium. They all ran over to the doors of their cells and started yelling at the group's approach. Nat let out a little gasp; then began closing her mind as quickly as she could. She couldn't block everything, however, for she still had to be able to hear and speak with her companions. Therefore, some of the chaos still reached her. One man, whose cell was on the left side of the passage, saw Nat and yelled louder. Even though her mind was more contained, Nat still understood his words.

"Help, help!" he cried, "The bad pictures! He bad pictures are going to get me!" He reached beseechingly through the bars in the door of his cell, and Nat quickly stepped away. Mutt, who was walking beside her, saw the man reaching toward her. He gave the man a hard look; then placed his hand on Nat's shoulder to draw her away. Even though Nat was nervous of the crazy man, her fear-born instincts against physical contact were stronger. She flinched when Mutt's hand touched her, and quickly slid her shoulder out from under his hand. She then walked swiftly to catch up with Indy and the nun, who were just heading around another corner.

Around the corner, there was another, shorter corridor. There were only a few doors on this hall and there didn't appear to be anyone in the cells beyond, so Nat let out a sigh of relief. Indy and the nun had stopped at the first door on the right, and the nun was rather slowly unlocking the door. Indy had Oxley's letter out, and he was scanning its contents carefully. Nat felt Mutt come up behind her, and she swiftly moved to one side to allow him to pass.

"This riddle in Oxley's letter makes no sense," Indy said suddenly. Nat and Mutt looked at him. "'Follow the lines in the earth only gods can read to Orellana's cradle, guarded by the living dead,'" Indy read from the letter. He assumed his thinking expression. "Cradle… cradle… birth. Orellana wasn't born in Peru. He was born in Spain. He was a conquistador, he came here looking for gold. He disappeared along with six others; their bodies were never found." He raised his head, and Nat almost thought he had understood something. But then the nun finished unlocking and opening the door. Mutt practically dashed into the room beyond, and Indy hastened to follow him. Nat entered more slowly, glancing around her.

The three of them had entered a high-ceilinged room with stone walls and floor. There were a few windows with bars high up in one of the walls. A raised platform of sorts ran along the windowed wall; the top was about six feet off the ground. All of this would have been very plain, except that someone had been busy making it not. Strange pictures and words covered the walls, carved into the stone. Nearly all of the pictures were of skulls. Most of them were facing forwards, but a few of them were depicted sideways. The words were carved around and between the skulls.

"He must have lost his mind," Nat heard Mutt say. He was looking at one of the walls, contemplating the strange carvings. Nat stepped closer so that she could see his face. She was a little surprised to see that Mutt's eyes were filling with tears. "What happened, Ox?" he muttered, "What happened?" Without even thinking, Nat reached out and gently touched his arm in an attempt to comfort him. He jumped a little, startled, and glanced down at her. Nat gave him the tiniest of smiles; then slid her hand off his arm.

"This is not the Mitchell-Hedges skull," Indy said suddenly. Nat and Mutt turned their heads to see what he meant.

Indy was pointing at one of the sideways-facing skull pictures, his face alight with excitement. Nat examined the picture. The skull seemed fairly normal in all aspects—all except one. The back of the skull was long, much longer than any normal head would be. Nat felt a chill run down her spine, but she didn't have any idea why the picture would affect her in this way.

"See the elongated cranium?" Indy went on, tapping the picture with his finger, "And the same word, in different languages, over and over again…" he began to read the words written on the wall, pointing to each one as he said it. Nat knew that he must be saying each one in a different language, but to her, they all sounded the same. "Return… return… return…"

"Return…" Mutt said, pointing at one of the words before him. "Return!" he said again a few seconds later. At least, to Nat it sounded like he was repeating it, though she guessed that he had been translating the first word he'd said. "Return where?" he asked Indy.

"Or return what?" Indy turned to face Nat and Mutt, eyes shining as he thought about this.

"The skull?" Mutt guessed.

"It seems to have been on his mind," Indy answered. He was scanning the rest of the cell; Nat knew he was looking for more clues. Suddenly, he stepped towards the very center of the cell, squinting down at the floor. After a few seconds, he dashed over to the door, grabbed a broom that was leaning on the wall in the hall outside, and hurried back. By this time, Nat and Mutt had both started to see what Indy had seen: a network of lines in the floor, ones that were clearly not cracks between the flagstones, obscured beneath a thick layer of dirt. Indy was now sweeping away some of the dirt in an attempt to see the lines better. Then he grinned. "Sweep," he commanded, thrusting the broom into Mutt's hands.

"Yeah." Mutt set to work immediately, raising a large cloud of dust. Nat leaped back out of his way. Within a few seconds, the layer of dirt had been removed and the stone floor was fully revealed.

"Ah…" Nat heard Indy say. She turned to see that he had climbed up onto the platform so that he could have a birds-eye view of the lines. Mutt also turned, and then swiftly stepped away from the lines so that Indy's view wasn't blocked. Indy had Oxley's letter out again. He was scanning its contents and glancing down intermittently at the floor. Then suddenly, Nat knew he had figured it out. She felt him understand.

"Oxley didn't mean Orellana's birthplace," Indy began slowly. As he continued, his words came faster and faster. "'Cradle' has another meaning in Mayan. It also means 'resting place'… as in final resting place. Oxley meant Orellana's grave!"

Mutt raised his eyebrows. "I thought you said no one ever found his grave."

Indy smiled broadly. "Well, it looks like Harold Oxley did." He pointed down at the lines on the floor. "That's a map of the graveyard where Orellana is buried."

After staring at Indy for several seconds, Mutt stepped over to the design on the floor and crouched down to examine it. A few more seconds went by before he asked, "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Indy answered, sounding half pleased with his success, half irritated by Mutt's doubt. Mutt nodded, looking convinced, but he also looked a little worried.

"So how are we gonna find this place?" he asked.

It was at this moment that Nat's tolerance for the cell disappeared. Ever since Indy and Mutt had translated the words on the wall, she had been feeling as though something, someone out of sight, was staring at her, staring at her and whispering, _"Return… return… return…"_ She clamped her hands onto her forehead; then dashed over to Indy, who was climbing down from the platform.

"_Please, Indy, I have to get out of this room!"_ she begged, _"I… I… please, can we just leave?"_

"Of course," Indy answered, looking alarmed at her outburst, "What's wrong?" But Nat was already hurrying for the door. She burst through it, passed the nun, who stared at her in a confused sort of way, passed the inmates, who yelled at her as she ran by, rushed up the stairs, almost tripping halfway up, and finally flew out the front door into the street beyond. Only then did she stop; leaning on the wall next to the door and gasping for breath. Within a minute, Indy and Mutt hurried out the door, as well, calling her name.

"_Here,"_ she answered softly. They turned and saw her.

"What's wrong?" Indy asked again, putting his hand on her shoulder. Nat flinched slightly, but she allowed Indy's hand to stay.

"_I don't know,"_ she said, _"I… I just—Those pictures, and the room… I just couldn't take it anymore."_ She glanced up at her concerned companions; then returned her gaze to the ground. _"I'm sorry."_

"It's ok, don't worry about it." Indy patted her shoulder; then removed his hand. "But we do have to find that graveyard. I guess I'll just have to ask around some more…"

"_I can find it for you,"_ Nat offered. She knew what she was offering would be hard on her, but she felt the need to do something to make up for her flight.

"How?" Indy looked skeptical.

"_I'll check people's minds for the information. It shouldn't take long."_ Ant tried to sound nonchalant, but she was feeling a bit nervous about entering a bunch of people's minds.

"Are you sure?" Indy knew she hated to go that deeply into people's minds, and Nat could feel his concern for her strengthen.

"_Yes. I'll try to be fast."_ Nat took a deep breath; then let it out slowly. After a few seconds of hesitation, she relaxed the protection around her mind.

Instantly, Nat's mind was flooded with feelings, thoughts, random bits of information. She forced herself not to put the blocks back in place and concentrated on sorting through the chaos.

_Come on, it's got to be in here somewhere, _she thought, trying to find thoughts about the elusive graveyard. The minds of different people flashed through her own mind, like bright lights flying past her at high speed. Nat tallied them off, doing her best to keep track of which minds she'd examined. _Not here, _she thought, _not here, no, no, no... no... no... yes!_

_"I've got it,"_she announced to Indy and Mutt. She immediately started putting her mind protection back up, until she had reached her usual level of openness.

"That was fast," Indy commented.

_"I told you it would be,"_ Nat smiled.

"All right, then." Indy was suddenly brisk. "We'll go back and get your motorcycle, kid, and get something to eat." Both Nat and Mutt let out little sighs of relief. Nat was so hungry at this point, she felt as though her stomach was digesting itself. "And after that," Indy went on, "We need to find a quiet, inconspicuous place to stay until we go to the graveyard tonight."

_"I now know a place for that, too," _Nat offered, _"But why does it have to be quiet?"_

Indy grinned at her and Mutt.

"We have a long time to wait, so this time is going to be put to good use. You two haven't slept for nearly thirty hours. Therefore, you two are going to be getting some sleep."

* * *

Wow... that was sooo long. I hope you enjoyed it! Please review!


	7. Chapter Six: I Won't Let Anyone Hurt You

Hey, homies! What's up? I hope everyone that wanted to got my message last time about my pen name changing. It was originally going to be CrystalPhoenix, but someone already had that name, so it's now PhoenixCrystal! Hope you still found me ok... For those of you that are still here, yay!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I love getting input, it really helps me.

This chapter is relatively short, especially compared to the last chapter. The really fun thing about it is that this chapter is entirely original to me. Yup, I made the whole thing up! (Unintentional rhyme, by the way! Or not…) I've had this part planned since, like, the first moment I came up with the story, and I've been looking forward to writing it ever since. There is more romantic stuff in this chapter, a lot more than there has been before this. It's fun, though. And very cute…

Oh, and I should mention… It will probably be a little while before I update again. I have the next two Fridays of school off, and that's when I type, so… yeah. But, on the plus side, I'm gonna be ordering an iPod today, and the first thing I'm gonna put on it is… drumroll please… Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! Woot! Clap clap! Inspiration galore! Way fun. So please don't cry!

Disclaimer: I do not own Indiana Jones or any of the characters in it. But I wish I did. But I don't. But I wish… oh, whatever.

* * *

Chapter Six: "I Won't Let Anyone Hurt You"

Mutt stood with his shoulders hunched, warming his hands over the small fire. He and Dr. Jones and Nat were in a cave, located in the foothills outside Nazca.

After Nat had found out where the graveyard was, they had all gone back to retrieve Mutt's motorcycle. When they'd arrived in the square where it was, there had been a large crowd gathered around the bike. Mutt had rushed through the gathering, expecting the worst, but, after a frantic check, he had been relieved to find that his motorcycle was just fine. After this moment of excitement, Dr. Jones had found and bought what he called "safe food." When asked what this meant, he had declined to explain, saying, "You won't feel well enough to eat if I tell you." This comment had put fear into Mutt and Nat's hearts, and they had stopped asking about it.

After the "safe food" had been purchased, Mutt had gotten on his motorcycle, Dr. Jones behind him holding the food. They had driven to the outskirts of town, and then waited for Nat to catch up with them on foot. When she'd arrived, she had transferred her mode of travel to her glowing surfboard and led them across a bit of the desert to the hills. Without even the slightest bit of hesitation, she'd showed them the way to the cave they were now in. Dr. Jones had lit a fire and cooked the food, and they had all enjoyed the stew-like creation he'd made. After dinner, they had all moved to different places in the small chamber they were in: Dr. Jones towards the mouth of the cave, Nat to a small ledge of rock sticking out of one wall, and Mutt remaining by the fire.

It was a bit chilly in the cave, even though it was midday outside, so Mutt was glad of the warmth from the flames before him. The fire was up on a flat piece of rock almost exactly in the center of the cave. Mutt heard a noise behind him and glanced over his shoulder to see Dr. Jones walking back towards them.

"Now that we've eaten, you two need to get some sleep," he said briskly.

"What about you, Teach? Are you gonna sleep?" Mutt asked, allowing a bit of annoyance to creep into his voice.

"I slept on the flight here," Dr. Jones stated proudly, "You two haven't slept in at least 30 hours."

"Fine. I'll sleep." Mutt moved a little away from the fire and lay down. The rocky floor wasn't exactly what he would call comfortable. After nearly a minute of adjusting his position, Mutt cried, "How am I supposed to sleep when there's no part of the floor that's sharp?"

"You'll get used to it," Dr. Jones said. When Mutt glared at him, he added, "Take your jacket off and use it as a pillow; that always seems to help a little."

Mutt reluctantly shrugged out of his leather jacket; then folded it and placed it on the floor. To his surprise, it did actually relieve some of his discomfort. But only some of it. He was now only wearing his T-shirt on the top, so his torso was freezing. He folded his arms tightly and rubbed his hands up and down his upper arms in an attempt to warm up.

"You, too, Nat," Dr. Jones said suddenly. Mutt lifted his head. Nat was still sitting on her little ledge. She folded her arms and gave Dr. Jones a stubborn look.

"_I don't need to sleep,"_ she said quietly.

"Last time I checked you did," Dr. Jones retorted, "Sleep, or I'll… well, I'll make you!"

"_What are you going to do, pretend I'm in your class and give me a lecture?"_ Nat asked teasingly, but she got off the ledge and onto the floor beside it.

"Jacket off," Dr. Jones instructed. Nat sighed and slid her arms out of her coat sleeves. Now that she wasn't wearing the huge jacket, Mutt had a better view of just exactly how slim she really was. Dr. Jones seemed to notice this, as well, for he frowned slightly and said, "On second thought…" Then he paused.

"_Jacket back on?"_ Nat asked, unfolding the coat again.

"No…" Dr. Jones paused again before saying, "Move over by Mutt." He turned toward Mutt. "Put your arm around her, kid; keep her warm."

There was a rather long moment of stunned silence. Then both Mutt and Nat yelped, _"What?!"_

"You heard me," Dr. Jones replied calmly, "It's the best solution. You'll both be more comfortable, and you'll be warmer."

Mutt stared at Dr. Jones. He couldn't believe that the middle-aged teacher would even think of something like this. Glancing over at Nat, Mutt was startled by her expression. She looked absolutely petrified. It was as though Dr. Jones had suggested that she go let a cobra wrap itself around her arm, or maybe to go and lie down next to a starved bear. This made Mutt a little indignant; he wasn't that bad, was he? But it also made him wonder what could possibly have happened to Nat that would cause her to be this afraid…

"It's your decision, Nat," Dr. Jones said. Mutt's indignation rose a few notches.

"What about me?" he snapped.

"You'll be fine," Dr. Jones answered, putting a heavy emphasis on the first word. Mutt had the strangest feeling that Dr. Jones had looked into his mind and found out the way he thought about Nat. He felt himself blush, and he fervently hoped that Nat wasn't listening to his thoughts right then.

His wish seemed to be unneeded, however, for Nat now looked as though her mind was a million miles away. It took her a full minute to realize that Dr. Jones had addressed her. Finally, Mutt heard the tiniest whisper of her voice in his mind, saying, _"I… don't know."_

"Come on, Nat," Dr. Jones said. Mutt couldn't tell what the underlying emotions accompanying his words were.

"_I—"_ Nat started, but she cut herself off, glancing over at Mutt. She turned her attention back to Dr. Jones, but Mutt could no longer hear her. For the next minute or so, no words were spoken out loud. Mutt assumed that Nat and Dr. Jones were communicating through thoughts, and he wished he could hear what they were saying…

NINININININ

"_I __can't__, Indy. I just __can't__!"_

_And why not? I know you've had every right to be afraid before. I know you've been… well, hurt before. But do you honestly think the __kid__ would hurt you?_

"…_I don't know."_

_Oh, come on, Nat! You're the one who can read minds! You've been around him for nearly two days, now. I'm sure you've seen quite a bit of his mind._

"_Not really, actually. I don't go into people's minds unless I have to."_

_But you've seen enough to know that he wouldn't hurt you like that. Even __I__ can tell that, and I'm not the mind reader!_

"_You're probably right, but that doesn't really change my feelings about it."_

_All right, then, I'll try another tactic. Have you looked at yourself recently? You have next to no body fat. Being close to someone will keep you warmer while you're trying to sleep._

"_If that's all you want for me, then I could just keep my jacket on."_

_You're partially right. I'll admit that. You could keep your jacket on and stay warmer, though I should point out that your neck and shoulders will hurt from sleeping on a rock floor with no pillow. But I think you need to loosen up a little, Nat! You need to let other people look out for you!_

"_Fine. Fine, Indy, I'll do it. But I don't think I'll be able to fall asleep…"_

MMMMMMMMM

"All right," Dr. Jones announced suddenly. Mutt jumped a little, startled by out-loud speech. Nat didn't look over at Mutt, so he was a little surprised when her voice came into his mind.

"_I'll… I'll do it."_ Nat still looked and sounded frightened, but there was also a determined tone in her voice. She slowly refolded her jacket, clearly stalling for time, until Dr. Jones very softly cleared his throat. She looked up at him, and he raised his eyebrows at her. Nat sighed; then, for the first time in a while, she looked over at Mutt.

_Those light silvery-blue eyes…_

After this initial reaction, Mutt forced himself to focus. He propped himself up on his right elbow and gave Nat what he hoped was an encouraging-without-being-scary smile. She stared at him for several seconds; then, very slowly, began to crawl across the floor of the cave towards him. The closer she got, the slower she moved; before long, Mutt could barely tell if she was still moving or not. She completely stopped about a yard from him, paused, and then lay down on her right side, her back to him.

"Closer, Nat," Dr. Jones said quietly. She looked over at him; then glanced over her shoulder at Mutt. She slowly scooted back another foot. "Closer," Dr. Jones said again, and she moved another six inches back. Mutt, in an attempt to help her, reached out his left arm and gently placed his hand on her waist.

In the next instant, Nat launched herself back the way she'd come, making a spin in midair, landing in a crouch facing Mutt. Her eyes were huge, and Mutt could see her chest rising and falling rapidly as she gasped for breath. She looked as though she was in full fight-or-flight mode. After nearly a minute, her posture relaxed a bit. She took a deep breath; then quickly moved back over next to Mutt. She was very close, only about a foot away, when she stopped. She hesitated for a few more seconds; then she closed her eyes, took another deep breath, and lay down about six inches from Mutt with her back facing him. Mutt decided to give her a minute to get used to being this close to him before he slowly and carefully put his hand on her waist again. Nat stiffened, and Mutt almost removed his hand, but then she relaxed a bit again. Mutt, now moving as slowly as he could, gently slid his arm around her until it rested in the curve of her waist.

Nat was trembling. Every muscle in her body was tight, and her heart was beating so hard and swiftly that Mutt could feel it. In sharp contrast, her breathing was slow and regular and her eyes were softly closed. After a few seconds she reached out her arm, grabbed her coat, which was lying a few feet away, and tucked it under her head and shoulders. Mutt guessed that if you looked at her from a little distance away it would probably look as though she was asleep, but he could feel that she was still rigid. Within a few minutes, however, Mutt noticed that Nat's heartbeat had slowed a bit. Not long after that, her body began to relax.

_She's actually falling asleep,_ Mutt thought, a little amazed. He hardly dared to breathe in case he startled her again. But he almost didn't need to worry, for within twenty minutes of laying down Nat fell into a real sleep. Her body was now completely relaxed, her heartbeat was slow and even, and her breathing was even slower than it had been a few minutes before.

Mutt, who was still propped up on his elbow, lay there and stared down at the sleeping Nat. She was fascinating when she was asleep, almost more fascinating than she was when she was awake. She looked more relaxed than Mutt had ever seen her. Her eyes were closed, which made Mutt a little sad because he loved to watch her eyes, but her lips curved up into a slight smile, and, as he watched, they parted in a silent sigh. Her body moved slightly under his arm, and her back pressed against his chest. Mutt knew that Dr. Jones was right, he didn't feel the slightest bit cold now. He continued to watch Nat sleep, but then he suddenly found himself wondering… Were her lips really as soft as they looked? Was her cheek as smooth? Was the skin of her neck that tender?... Without even realizing it, Mutt bent over slightly, but then something caught his eye. There was strange mark on Nat's neck, just under her shirt collar. Mutt leaned his head around in front of her, trying to see it better. The mark turned out to be something that looked a great deal like a tattoo, shaped like two larger elongated circles with a smaller elongated circle in between; the smaller circle had half circles curving out from its sides and four little lines radiating out from the connection points. Mutt wondered where and how Nat could've received such a mark; then suddenly it dawned on him. The mark had to be from the experiment performed on her. This thought made Mutt remember something… something he'd been meaning to ask about for a while.

"Hey," Mutt called softly over to Dr. Jones. Dr. Jones looked up.

"Hey, what?" he answered. Mutt took a deep breath; then asked his question.

"What happened to Nat? I mean, she told me about the experiment they did on her, but I think something else happened, too." Mutt thought back to earlier in the day when he'd put his hand on her shoulder in the sanatorium, and how she'd slid out from under it. "She gets scared when people tough her or even get near her. Why?"

Dr. Jones sighed before responding. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Of course," Mutt snapped, annoyed at Dr. Jones' reaction, "Would I have asked if I didn't want to know?"

Dr. Jones gave him a long look, as though he was trying to determine if Mutt could hear this secret. "I guess you should know," he said finally. He paused for several seconds; then went on quietly, "Nat was… raped."

Mutt froze. It literally felt as though he had just jumped into freezing-cold water. He stared at Dr. Jones, wondering if the man might possibly be playing some horrible joke on him.

"It's true," Dr. Jones said, almost as though he'd known what Mutt was thinking, "She told me by accident. She was talking about something else, and she mentioned—almost against her will—that someone had hurt her. But I knew what she meant because—well, I'm sure you've had it happen to you. She says the words in your head, and sometimes other things get in, too."

Mutt nodded numbly.

"Well, this time, she accidentally sent me her memories of what had happened to her." Dr. Jones clenched his jaw, a hard look on his face. "All I can say about it is, the guy who did it better have his affairs in order."

"Does she know who did it?" Mutt asked, trying to keep his voice quiet. He wasn't upset with Nat, or worried that he'd tainted himself by being near her. All he was thinking about was how to kill the person who had hurt and scared her so much.

"No." Dr. Jones looked angry at this. "I asked her, but she has no idea. She couldn't see or hear at the time, or even use her mind abilities. All she could do was feel."

Mutt felt as though someone had kicked him in the stomach. He felt terribly angry at the person who had hurt Nat, but he also felt ashamed of himself. All those times he'd stood near her, touched her… he'd scared her every time. And the way he'd looked at her a few minutes before… it wasn't that he'd done anything wrong; it was that he'd almost acted, even though his reaction would've been unintentional, on his feelings. But somewhere out there, there was a man who had seen Nat's beauty and deliberately taken advantage of her weakness. Mutt wanted nothing more at that moment than to get that man's blood; to make him pay for what he'd done to Nat.

Mutt heard a small noise behind him. When he turned to find the source of it, he found that Dr. Jones had walked out of the chamber, presumably towards the mouth of the cave. After glancing around the cave for several seconds, Mutt looked back down at Nat. The tiniest of frowns had come onto her face, but as Mutt watched, it faded and was replaced by a slight smile. Once again she snuggled a little closer to him, and Mutt couldn't help smiling himself. He bent over her until his lips were only inches from her ear.

"I won't let anyone hurt you," he murmured, "That guy, or anyone else. I'll give everything I've got to keep you safe." Mutt paused, and his lips brushed her hair. Finally, he repeated, "I won't let anyone hurt you," then lay down fully. Feeling Nat under his arm and against his chest, Mutt knew that he would never break his promise…

iiiiiiiiiiiiiii

When Indy walked back into the cave several minutes later, a very sweet sight met his eyes. Mutt had fallen asleep as well, and he and Nat were snuggled close together, though without really being indecent. Indy smiled, and he remembered the woman that he truly loved. Nat was a lot like her, but Nat was the quiet, shy version. Indy knew that Mutt would be good for Nat, and that he would protect her. With a smile, Indy wandered back out to the mouth of the cave and sat down. He knew that he had a while to wait…

NNNNNNNNN

Nat was having a good dream. It was such a rare thing for her to have a really good dream, especially since recently her dreams had been flooded with thoughts, and, until a few days ago, those thoughts had been evil. But this dream was probably the best she'd ever had in her entire life.

There was a person with her in the dream. Nat couldn't see it clearly, but she knew it was male. He came up to her and very gently wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close. Nat would normally be terrified if someone did this to her, but she somehow knew that she could trust this dream person. He would never hurt her; all he wanted to do was keep her safe.

"_I won't let anyone hurt you." _His voice whispered through her mind, and Nat smiled, knowing he was telling the truth. She reached up and placed her hands upon his chest; then rested her head between them. She felt him press his lips to the top of her head. She felt safer than she ever had before. Nat hoped the dream would never end…

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Wow. I hope you guys enjoyed that. If it seemed too contrived to you, I'm sorry. But a lot of fan fiction is like that, so I guess I'm ok. I hope…

I have a rather odd request. When you review (which you are going to, yes?), please tell me what your favorite line in this chapter was. It could be a spoken line or just a phrase you liked. Thanks!

Review review review!


	8. Chapter Seven:Grave Robbers Will Be Shot

Hi! Merry Christmas (slightly late) and Happy New Year (very slightly early)! Sorry this took so long, my finals were very disruptive...

I loved hearing everyone's comments about which lines in the last chapter were their favorites! The clear winner was, "I won't let anyone hurt you..." I'm glad about that, but I have a few notes for certain people:

masqueradewitch: I loved your review! (Everyone else, you have to read it, too.) I can't wait to do Nat/Ox interaction either. And the line you submitted is one of my faves.

Romance in the park: This is my favorite line! I'm soooo glad that at least one person agrees with me!

And some other reviewers I would like to give notes to:

Fraulein Hilde: Thank you for your very kind comments about Nat. I like her a lot, too! (Everyone else: read her story. It's in my favorites)

Evongreen07: The next several chapters after this one are going to be from Nat's POV, so your wish will be coming true very soon!

And finally, a note to The Lady Sparrow. She asked in a message if I had a copy of the script. Um.... no, I do not. I just watch the scene in the movie I'm writing at the time, pausing it every few seconds to write down the lines. Sad, I know, but it works! You will see more examples of this in the coming chapter. (As a side note, the early chapters of this story really bug me now because I now own the movie and I know the lines in them are not correct. ^mutters something about dumb movie novelizations^)

One last thing to mention... you guys get to see Nat in a mood she hasn't been in before in this chapter. You'll know what I mean when you read it...

I have an acknowledgment to give, but I'll save it until the end of the chapter cuz I don't want to give the line away... I'll also give a review instruction.

Without further ado, I present the chapter!

* * *

Chapter Seven: "Grave Robbers Will Be Shot"

When Nat awoke, she felt more rested than she had for a long time. She also felt extremely comfortable and delightfully warm. She lay still for several seconds, enjoying these sensations, but then she became tired with not being able to see or hear. She began to focus her mind in the way she had accidentally discovered that allowed her to see and hear with her mind, but she was still enjoying the immense comfort she was in, so she didn't hurry herself.

_Summon the thought,_ she thought to herself, and, very slowly, her vision blossomed before her. She carefully focused it until it was limited to the range of vision her normal eyes would've had; then started on her hearing. When that was set up, Nat decided it was probably time to get up and move about. She stretched luxuriantly, stretching her arms up and twisting her body around... and found Mutt's face only inches from her own.

That woke Nat up. She tried to shriek, though no sound came out, and she leaped back and away from him as quickly as she possibly could. She realized with a shock of horror that he had had his arm wrapped tightly around her waist, and that they had in fact been sleeping-- or, at least, she had been-- in an extremely intimate position. Mutt made no attempt to stop her flight, but he was staring after her with the oddest expression on his face. Nat barely registered this. She couldn't stop trembling, and her heart was pounding so hard that she half expected it to beat right out of her chest. She couldn't focus her mind enough to think, let alone to speak, but finally it coalesced enough for her to send Mutt her words.

_"You..."_ she said in what would have been a whisper if she'd spoken aloud. After a few seconds, she gained enough control to push up the volume._ "You!"_ she repeated in a yell,_ "How dare you!" _

"I'm-- I'm really sorry!" Mutt cried back, his face twisting in a look of anguish. Nat hardly heard him.

_"You could you do that?"_ she yelled, _"How... how __could__ you?"_ Her voice faltered and broke on the last words as her emotions affected her mind control. It was at that exact moment that Indy walked into the cave.

"I see you two are awake," he commented dryly.

"I'm sorry!" Mutt repeated, "I-I only woke up about a minute before you, and i didn't want to move cuz I knew I'd scare you!"

_"Then why did you put yourself in that position in the first place?"_ Nat demanded. Then she realized something. In a slightly quieter tone, she asked, _"And how did you know I would be afraid?"_

"Both of those are my fault," Indy cut in, "I suggested you sleep close together, and... well, I told him what happened to you. Or rather, what was... done to you."

Nat stared at Indy, incredulous. Finally, she asked, _"You __told__ him? Just... just like that?"_

"Well, he did ask what had made you scared of being touched, so I told him. He had a right to know, Nat." Indy sounded defiant.

Nat shook her head, in shock. She felt like she couldn't trust anyone, not even Indy, and especially not Mutt. Her feelings must have shown on her face, for Indy swiftly said, "Don't blame the kid. It was my fault both times."

_"No."_ Nat shook her head again, this time in denial. _"It wasn't you, Indy. You aren't the one who-"_ At this point, Nat's emotions completely stopped her ability to speak. So many words for what Mutt had done to her came into her head that she didn't know what to say. Touched her, frightened her... betrayed her... She finally managed to repeat, _"You aren't the one..."_ With that, she turned on her heel and walked, as quickly as she could without running, out of the cave.

As soon as Nat made it out of the mouth of the cave, she dashed over to a large nearby rock and collapsed upon it. She sat staring off into the distance without really seeing what lay there: a large storm forming, covering the stars in the dark sky. Nat was experiencing so many painfully strong emotions at once that she didn't even feel the chilly wind that was effortlessly passing through her shirt. She felt sad, frightened, confused, but most of all she felt betrayed. In her opinion, Mutt had betrayed the trust for him that had been growing inside her. For some reason, her dream kept replaying in her mind. The thought of it made her heart ache with sorrow, though she knew that the person in the dream couldn't possibly be Mutt. Especially not now...

Nat sat on the rock for a seemingly unending period of time, with the strangest feeling that she was more alone during those moments that she ever had been in her entire, nearly solitary, life...

MMMMMMM

Mutt sat miserably on the floor of the cave, waiting for Nat to come back. He'd wanted to follow her when she'd left, but Dr. Jones had stopped him, saying, "You should probably leave her alone, kid. She's pretty upset right now, and I don't think even I can say anything to her when she's like this. She'll come back eventually, though, so... just try to be patient." Dr. Jones had patted Mutt's shoulder; then walked over to sit on a rock, leaving Mutt in the center of the cave.

Mutt felt terrible. All he'd wanted to do was keep Nat safe, but how was he supposed to protect someone who now hated his guts? He knew she did, he'd seen the look in her eyes before she'd walked out of the cave.

_She has every right to hate me,_ Mutt thought sadly, _I mean, I scared her pretty bad, and I also asked about her fear, the memory she'd probably like to forget the most._ Mutt shook with anger at the man who had hurt Nat, but he knew that this anger on her behalf probably wouldn't do much good, now that she couldn't stand him.

Quiet footsteps emanated from the direction of the mouth of the cave, and, a few seconds later, Nat walked into view. Mutt leaped to his feet, barely restraining himself from running to her side.

"Hey, Nat, I'm really sorry," he said urgently, "Can you forgive me or... or something?" He gritted his teeth at this awkward ending.

Without even glancing in Mutt's direction, Nat walked over to Dr. Jones and stated, _"We should get going; there's a storm coming."_ Exactly on cue, a gigantic thunderclap boomed outside. Dr. Jones didn't flinch.

"All right." He stood up and went over to the ledge Nat had been sitting on hours before. "I went back to Nazca while you two were asleep; I realized I'd forgotten some things." He picked up a large lantern that Mutt had never seen before and the backpack that had traveled with them all the way from his house. He handed the backpack to Nat; then turned to Mutt. "Go get your bike ready, kid," he instructed, "We'll be right out." Mutt walked towards the mouth of the cave, but he paused when he went by Nat. He opened his mouth to say something to her, but she deliberately turned her head away from him. Mutt shook his head, annoyed by her ignoring of him, and stomped the rest of the way out of the cave.

About five minutes later, Mutt found himself driving his motorcycle with Dr. Jones clinging on behind, following Nat on her glowing surfboard. She was leading them to the graveyard Ox had directed them to, the graveyard where Orellana might be buried. Just as before, when she'd led them to the cave, Nat didn't falter in choosing the direction they were to go and leading them along a barely discernible path heading farther up into the hills. The path was quite steep in places, but Mutt revved the engine and his powerful bike went up the hills easily. Nat, of course, was bothered by none of this, since her mode of transportation hovered above the ground, but Mutt felt Dr. Jones' arm tighten its grip around him several times.

After a period of time that could've been ten minutes or nearly an hour, Mutt wasn't sure which, Dr. Jones said in his ear, "Nat says it's just ahead." Mutt nodded, but his mood slipped down a few more notches because Nat's ignoring of him had become so strong that she hadn't even informed him that they were nearing their destination. Just in front of him, Nat swerved suddenly to the left, and Mutt quickly turned his motorcycle after her. After traveling for perhaps another fifty yards, Nat stopped. Her surfboard disappeared from beneath her feet, and she dropped lightly and gracefully to the ground.

"We're here," Dr. Jones announced. As soon as these words left his mouth, a gigantic bolt of lightening ripped across the sky, followed not even a second later by a clap of thunder that caused the very air to vibrate. Mutt killed the engine of his motorcycle and got off it.

"So where's the graveyard?" he asked.

"Over there, I think," Dr. Jones answered, pointing. Another bolt of lightening flashed just then, illuminating their surroundings. Off to Mutt's right, a crumbling archway stood, beyond which was something that might or might not have been a graveyard. The light also revealed the fact that they were high up on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the vast plain of Nazca. The Nazca Lines shown out for a second; then disappeared back into the darkness of the desert floor.

"Stash your bike somewhere, kid, and we'll get started," Dr. Jones said, sounding excited. He hurried over to the shadowy area at the right side of the archway and began doing something, Mutt couldn't see what. Nat went over to stand by him, but not before giving Mutt a glance filled with negative emotions, the strongest of which were anger and fear. The fear in her look made Mutt mush more upset than the anger did; he hated to think the Nat might actually be afraid of him, now. With a heavy heart, he wheeled his motorcycle over to a clump of scraggly trees and pulled branches down over it, hiding the bike from sight. He then walked back toward the archway to try and figure out what Dr. Jones could possibly be doing.

Mutt stepped back onto the narrow path leading into the cemetery, but even at this short distance he couldn't see what Dr. Jones was doing because his sign blocked his view. Mutt hadn't noticed the sign before, and he moved closer, curious to see what it said. A convenient bolt of lightning lit up the sky just then, so Mutt was able to see the words clearly. They were in Spanish, but Mutt knew exactly what they meant.

"'Grave robbers will be shot!'" he read aloud in English. Dr. Jones turned around and stepped out of the shadows, holding two shovels and smirking slightly.

"Good thing we're not grave robbers," he answered, throwing Mutt one of the shovels and heading towards the archway. Mutt caught the shovel and followed, wondering if he would ever understand Dr. Jones' sense of humor. He tried to give Nat the grin they had shared so often as a result of something Dr. Jones had done, but she ignored him completely, walking quickly past him until she was beside Dr. Jones. Mutt clenched his teeth to keep himself from screaming at Nat for her to at least acknowledge the fact that he was alive; then miserably followed her and Dr. Jones into the graveyard.

It turned out to be a very interesting and distinctly creepy place. Small doorways opened out of little buildings, several of which were below ground level. To add to the homeyness of the place, actual mummified skeletons lay about on the ground, against some of the walls, and in various pits. The flashes of lightning and booms of thunder were an excellent last touch in creating what was probably the strangest and eeriest place Mutt had ever been.

"What are we looking for?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

"I don't know yet," Dr. Jones called back, sounding to Mutt as though he was happy about this. He had out his flashlight, and he was shining it back and forth to illuminate sections of the graveyard. "Maybe an antichamber off one of these barrows."

_Oh, great,_ Mutt thought, _We might have to go __in__ to one of these things. Why couldn't Ox've just left this skull thing sitting on top of the archway?_ He reluctantly followed Dr. Jones and Nat over a bridge, underneath which was a pit partially filled with skeletons. Mutt glanced down at them as he walked across and tripped slightly as a result. He decided to keep his eyes on where he was going from then on.

A shadow that seemed overly solid moved off to Mutt's right. He whirled around, looking for the source of it. It had looked as though something... or someone... had just jumped into one of the nearby doorways...

"I think I just saw something!" Mutt called to Dr. Jones, barely managing to keep his voice from cracking. Dr. Jones turned around.

"Ah, you're just jumping at shadows," he answered. His smirk was back. Then, something amazing happened. At least, Mutt considered it amazing.

_"You know, he might actually be right, Indy,"_ he heard Nat's voice say in his mind. This was amazing to Mutt in that she was actually acknowledging his existence again by allowing him to hear her voice; plus, she was almost standing up for him! _"I've been sensing something ever since we came here,"_ she added.

"What kind of thing?" Dr. Jones asked, looking intrigued. Nat glanced around, drawing her oversized coat tighter around herself before answering.

_"I don't know. But I'm fairly certain there's something... or someone... here."_

"We'll be careful, then," Dr. Jones said, turning around again and continuing on his search.

Mutt felt elated by Nat's slight thawing, and he decided to take the next opportunity given to him to show off, as a means of celebration. To his delight, an opportunity presented itself a few seconds later. The group had reached a part of the graveyard in which nearly all of the barrow entrances were below ground level. A single wooden ladder was the only means of reaching this level that Mutt could see, and he stepped over to it confidently.

"This way down!" he said, hoping to sound dashing. He turned and stepped onto the first rung of the ladder. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. Literally. With a thrill of horror, Mutt felt the rung snap beneath his foot, and he half fell, half slid down the rest of the ladder, breaking the rest of the rungs and yelling in shock and dismay as he went. He hit the ground at the bottom extremely hard, and he lay there, groaning and hoping he hadn't broken anything except the ladder. He thought he heard the tiniest whisper of a laugh, which made him feel worse because he was pretty sure it had originated from Nat. To top off the entire fiasco, Dr. Jones walked, smirking wider than ever, down a flight of shallow steps off to Mutt's right, steps that Mutt hadn't noticed until that moment. Dr. Jones practically sauntered up to him and held out his hand for Mutt to grab.

"This way up!" he said, barely concealing his amusement.

"Yeah," Mutt answered grumpily, taking Dr. Jones' hand and allowing himself to be pulled up.

At that moment, everything seemed to decide to take a turn towards the... well, the only way Mutt could think to describe it was the "even weirder." He was already hanging out in an extremely creepy graveyard in the exact middle of Nowhere (which happened to be in Peru, of all places) with a strange, middle-aged archeology professor and a girl who couldn't actually see, hear, or talk but was able to say things in his mind and create a flying, glowing surfboard, and who also currently hated his guts. Mutt had somehow known that this situation just wasn't weird enough, and that something had to happen that would... oh, maybe liven things up a bit. As Dr. Jones finished pulling him to his feet, this "something else" happened. Something, Mutt wasn't quite sure what, leaped down on them from somewhere high above, shrieking horribly as it came. It landed almost directly between him and Dr. Jones; it was then that Mutt realized that this creature was in fact a very small person with what looked like a skull for a face. Dr. Jones stepped towards the person, but it leaped straight up into the air and rammed its feet into his chest. Dr. Jones staggered back, coughing, and hit the wall behind him with considerable force. The person then turned its attention to Mutt. Shrieking again, it launched itself right at him. Mutt tried to throw a punch at it, but it easily evaded his fist. It then began to pummel Mutt with a variety of punches and kicks, all at extremely high speed. Mutt attempted to defend himself, and even tried to back away, but the little person dodged every one of his blows and continued to beat him up. Eventually, it swept Mutt's feet out from under him and leaped away into one of the nearby doorways. Mutt jumped back to his feet, feeling his now bruised body protest as he did so, but he wound up being very glad he had gotten back up because, a few seconds after he had, something leaped onto his back. With a cry of surprise, Mutt attempted to dislodge this new attacker, but it clung tightly to him and rained blows on his back and head. Dr. Jones, obviously recovered from the kick bestowed on him, leaped out of nowhere, swinging his shovel like a baseball bat. The head of it struck the creature on Mutt's back, and it let go, letting out a horrible, chattering cry. Mutt turned in time to see that it was another little person, and that what had seemed to be a skull-like face was in fact a mask, made from a real skull, which Dr. Jones' blow had just shattered. The person ran away from them towards another of the doorways. Mutt dashed after it, grabbing up his shovel as he went, but it vanished into the hole before he could catch it.

A cry of dismay in his mind made Mutt whip around. One of the people had sprung at Nat, who was still on the upper level of the graveyard. She leaped out of its way and dashed towards the spot where the upper level dropped off. Hesitating only a second, she jumped over the edge, landing a short way away from where Mutt was standing. Unfortunately, the person leaped after her. As soon as it hit the ground, it grabbed Nat by the throat and threw her easily to the ground. Mutt cried out and attempted to leap to her defense, but he was distracted when another kind of attack was given to him. A dart flew out of the shadows to his right; it hit the handle of his shovel only inches from his hand.

"Those darts are poison!" Mutt heard Dr. Jones yell. Mutt practically dropped the shovel in shock; he had so nearly missed a terrible death, and he hadn't even known it. But another cry in his mind jolted him back from this reverie as he remembered Nat's predicament. He leaped forward, raising his shovel to strike the person who had just his Nat where she still lay on the ground, but his assistance wound up not being needed. As the person drew back its fist to hit Nat again, she thrust her arm forward at it, as though she was pushing or throwing something. A bright ball of energy appeared just before her palm, and then, quicker than Mutt could see, it expanded, creating a shield between Nat and her attacker. She drew back her arm and pushed it froward again, which caused the shield to fly forward and hit the person hard enough to send it flying. The person landed heavily, but it immediately leaped back to its feet, staring at Nat in alarm. Nat scrambled to her feet, as well, and backed away, her hand still stretched out in front of her. Mutt didn't realize that she was going to back right into him until she was about three inches away, and by then it was too late to warn her. She bumped into him, but Mutt was surprised by the fact that her concentration didn't even waver. The little person, who had been staring at Nat this entire time, suddenly rushed forward. Mutt instinctively grabbed Nat's shoulder. Just before it reached them, however, the person changed its direction and dived headfirst into yet another one of the doorways. Dr. Jones came sprinting over, skidding to a halt just beside Mutt and Nat. He pointed his finger at them.

"Stay there!" he commanded; then turned and jumped through the doorway after the little person.

Mutt didn't know what to think. Dr. Jones was obviously more nuts than Mutt had thought him to be. And Nat had a few tricks up her sleeve that Mutt had never seen... This thought made Mutt remember that his hand was still on her shoulder. He swiftly removed it, clearing his throat.

"So, um... you ok?" he asked awkwardly. Nat glanced at him over her shoulder; then stepped slightly away from him.

_"I'm fine,"_ she answered, giving Mutt a strange look. It wasn't anything like the cold look she'd given him earlier, but it wasn't her usual smile, either.

"Good," Mutt said, nearly cringing as he heard the eager tone in his own voice, "Cuz, um... cuz I was kinda worried," he added, clearing his throat again.

_"You were?"_ Nat asked, sounding very slightly surprised. Mutt looked carefully at her expression: her eyebrows were raised, but a hint of a smile quirked her lips. He could've cheered... But then he heard a little crunching sound behind him. He turned around slowly, fearing what he would see.

Another little person had crept out of the shadows. It was holding a long stick, and Mutt realized with dread that the stick was actually a blowpipe... which contained more of the poisoned darts.

"Wha..." he said, attempting to make his body move so that he could take cover. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move a muscle. Nat, on the other hand, stepped forward,moving slightly in front of him. She raised her hand, a determined look on her face. The little person raised the blowpipe to its lips...

... and Dr. Jones, appearing as though out of thin air, leaped to the other end of the blowpipe seized it tightly in both hands, and blew into it. The little person made a sound of shock, and Mutt realized in disgust that the poisoned dart had shot back along the blowpipe straight into the person's open mouth. After standing there for several seconds, a surprised expression on its face, the person keeled over, quite dead. Before Mutt could even take another breath, another little person came flying out of one of the doorways. It launched itself at him and grabbed his arm. Mutt was just pulling back his fist to give it a good punch when he heard a distinctly metallic click behind him. Both he and the little person turned. Dr. Jones was holding a pistol, and he was pointing it right at Mutt's attacker. In his other hand he held what Mutt thought might be a bullwhip, poised and ready to strike. He looked extremely impressive, standing there in this mode, and the little person must have thought so too, for it let go of Mutt and scampered away, chattering as it went.

Mutt stared at Dr. Jones in astonishment. This middle-aged professor had more surprises up his sleeve than any other person Mutt had met... except maybe Nat. Mutt knew that his mouth was hanging open in shock, but he didn't care.

"You're a... a teacher??" he asked incredulously, as soon as he could form coherent words.

"Part-time," Dr. Jones answered, sounding as though he thought this was a perfectly adequate explanation. Mutt gaped at him, still in shock. "I think I found the place we're looking for," Dr. Jones went on casually, putting his gun away and coiling up his bullwhip, "At least, it seemed kind of promising to me. Come on." He walked over to the doorway he had jumped through. Nat moved to follow him, but Mutt was still too surprised to move. After a few seconds, Dr. Jones noticed this. "Hey, kid, are you coming?" he asked, "Or would you rather wait out here and keep our little friends company?" Mutt shook his head, partly as an answer to Dr. Jones' question, partly to clear it, and walked over to join the other two. "Here, you can carry the lantern," Dr. Jones added, handing it to Mutt. Then, without another pause, he crawled into the doorway.

_"You want to go first?"_ Nat asked Mutt, sounding a little impatient.

"Oh... sure." Mutt crawled into the doorway after Dr. Jones, though not quite as impressively as the former.

NNNNNNNN

Nat stood outside the doorway for a few moments, pondering the last few minutes. They had certainly been strange, but they were also making her feel some small twinges of regret about the way she had been treating Mutt. When he'd asked her if she was all right and given his reasoning for doing so as being worried about her, she'd sensed that he had truly meant it. This made her wonder if, when she'd been so upset earlier, she'd opened up her mind to his a little more, she might have known whether he was telling the truth when he'd apologized. If that had been the case, none of her actions against him since then would've happened...

_I can't,_ another part of her mind said; the frightened, deeply wounded part, _I __can't__ forgive him. He betrayed me. How can I forgive him for betraying me?_ But another twinge of guilt ran through her. She took a deep breath; then let it out slowly. _Maybe someday I __can__ forgive him, _this slightly more repentant part of her thought, _Just... not yet._ And with that, she turned and crawled into the darkness of the barrow.

MMMMMMM

Mutt knew it was strange, but, because of the events that had taken place over the last few minutes, he had started to think of Dr. Jones as Indy. He had saved Mutt's life, which was enough to make Mutt appreciate him a lot more, but he'd also done it with such flair that Mutt could no longer think of him as just a middle-aged teacher. The guy had style; therefore, he deserved to be at least thought of as the name he preferred, even if Mutt didn't get the reasoning behind the name. He didn't think he would be calling Dr. Jones "Indy" out loud any time soon, but he would definitely think of him that way from now on.

Dr. Jones-- _no, Indy,_ Mutt corrected himself-- led them through a twisting passageway that was every bit as creepy as the graveyard outside had been. Human remains-- some just skeletons, others of a more mummified type-- were lying at various intervals against the walls of the passage. Spider webs and other nasty-looking threads clung to the walls, the ceiling, and even the floor in places. Mutt thought he heard some skittering noises coming from the shadows and made sure to watch where he stepped. He felt very glad that he was holding the lantern, but even the comfort of this small light didn't ease his tension much.

At last, Indy stopped. Mutt looked around and realized that the reason for this was the fact that the passageway had come to an abrupt end.

"Dead end..." he said aloud.

"Maybe," Indy answered briefly. He was examining the walls, an intent expression on his face. This took Mutt a few seconds to comprehend, but when he had he wished he hadn't.

_We might have to go through another tiny tunnel,_ Mutt thought, _One that's worse than the last one was... _This thought made him reach for the thing that pulled him through times like this: his comb. Mutt had found out long ago that if he looked ready for anything, he felt ready for anything. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his comb, hand shaking slightly. He raised it to his hair and started his careful arranging, but he'd only managed to make a few strokes before he was interrupted.

"What are you doing?" Indy called, sounding irritated, "Put that thing away! Give me some light over here." Mutt hurriedly stashed his comb back in his pocket; then took a hesitant step towards Indy. "Bring it over here," Indy said again, gesturing at the wall before him.

Mutt walked slowly and carefully over to Indy. He hadn't been able to fix his hair completely; therefore, he was still jumpy. So jumpy, in fact, that when something bumped into his nose, he leaped back from it with a gasp. Quickly raising the lantern to see his attacker, he was slightly surprised to find that it was only a little ball of... something... suspended by a string.

"It's just a thing..." Mutt gasped, feeling vastly relieved. His burst of confidence was popped by a little whisper of a giggle on his behalf from Nat. It sank even lower when he spotted the thing that Indy was looking at.

There was a hole in the wall before Indy, only about the width of a man's arm in diameter, its opening obscured by a thick layer of cobwebs. The frightening thing about it was that the cobwebs were moving in and out at regular intervals, almost as if it was breathing. The light of the lantern hit the cobwebs, revealing a human skull behind them. Mutt barely restrained himself from stepping back, for now it looked as though the skull was breathing. Indy pulled off the cobwebs, lifted the skull out of the hole, examined the opening for several seconds, and then stuck his arm into the hole. Mutt shuddered, wondering how anyone could be weird enough to stick their arm into a hole in a wall inside a tomb. A few moments later, however, a large section of the wall off to his right slid apart, revealing another passage, leading down. Mutt decided that now was a good time to step back. He did so, only to trip and fall back onto one of the more mummified remains. His arm caught on part of the skeleton's body, near its ribs. Mutt tugged at it, attempting to free himself.

Suddenly, a very large, black scorpion crawled out of the remains and onto Mutt's hand. He tensed in surprise, and the scorpion raised its tail and stung him hard on the back of his hand. Mutt yelled, wrenched his arm out of the skeleton's clutches, and shook the scorpion off. Unfortunately, this sudden movement caused what seemed to Mutt to be about a thousand more scorpions to scurry out of the remains onto him. Mutt yelled again, and feverishly brushed the scorpions off. He leaped away from the remains and jumped about, slapping himself off, hoping to dislodge any remaining scorpions.

"Dance on your own time, will ya?" Indy said with a chuckle from where he stood next to the new doorway. Mutt turned to him, his heart pounding in panic.

"One of those scorpions just stunk me, am I gonna die?" he cried.

"How big?" Indy asked looking skeptical.

"Huge!" Mutt answered, wondering how long he had to live. He glanced over at Nat for what he thought might be the last time. She looked even more beautiful than usual at that moment...

"Good," Indy said, sounding pleased. Mutt gaped at him.

"Good?!?" he yelped. Indy,. Who had turned to walk down the new passageway, turned back to face Mutt. His smirk had returned.

"When it comes to scorpions, the bigger the better," he stated, "Small one bites ya, don't keep it to yourself."

At that exact moment, two things happened. First, something lightly touched Mutt on the back, and second, Nat's voice spoke in his mind, saying, _"You missed one..." _Mutt whirled around, his hand scrabbling across his back in an attempt to dislodge whatever scorpion might still be there. (_And unfortunately,_ he thought, _I just looked like a complete idiot..._) Nat stood behind him, her right arm extended, delicately holding a wriggling scorpion by its tail between the tips of her fingers. One corner of her mouth was quirked up in a wry smile, and her eyebrows were raised, as if in surprise or innocence. Not breaking eye contact with Mutt and still smiling, she flicked her wrist hard to one side, sending the scorpion flying into a wall. It fell to the ground and scuttled away. Without a pause, Nat turned away from Mutt ans walked over to Indy, leaving Mutt to wonder what she had meant by all that. Indy started off down the passage, Nat right behind him, and Mutt hastened to join them.

The passageway was actually a steep, winding staircase. Skeletons were set into hollowed out places in the rock alongside the stairs. Mutt didn't find this too surprising; there had been skeletons all throughout the tomb. But, at the bottom of the stairs, he spotted some remains that were a lot different than all the others he'd seen. The most notable difference was the fact that these remains' skulls were greatly elongated in the back.

"Their skulls," Mutt said, fascinated, "Look at their skulls, man!" Indy and Nat turned back to see what he was talking about.

"Like the drawings in Oxley's cell." Indy's description confirmed Mutt's thought on the subject.

_"Does that mean anything?"_ Nat asked, sounding eager.

"Means we're getting closer," Indy answered, a triumphant expression on his face. Mutt turned back to the skeletons, still in awe of their warped shape.

"That's crazy," he whispered. He glanced at Indy. "Why's it like that?" Indy took on his teacher expression.

"The Nazca Indians used to bind their infant's heads with rope.. . to elongate the skull like that." He turned to continue walking.

"Why?" Mutt called after him. Indy glanced back.

"Honor the gods," he answered briefly.

"No, no, God's head is not like that, man," Mutt instantly retorted. Indy, who had just knelt down to shine his flashlight into a low, cobweb-filled doorway, turned back with a little smile.

"Depends on who your god is," he said cryptically; then turned back and crawled through the doorway.

As soon as Indy's feet disappeared, Mutt hurried over to the doorway to see where he had gone. Nat stepped over and crouched down beside Mutt. The two of them watched Indy crawl slowly up a passageway that rapidly grew smaller until it disappeared into the ceiling.

"Well, you're going nowhere fast!" Mutt commented. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Nat's mouth twitch. Indy, however, completely ignored him. "Professor, this really is a dead end, look!" he called, wondering if the crazy man would keep trying to crawl up the passage forever. But, just when Indy reached the point where he would no longer be able to fit, the floor of the passageway made a very loud crunching sound and began to lift on the end next to Mutt and Nat. Nat gasped and fell back away from the doorway, but Mutt tried to keep his eyes on what was happening to Indy. The floor rose until Mutt knew that, in a second, it would cover the doorway. "Hey!" he called to Indy, hoping the man was all right. Then the doorway was covered. Mutt knelt there, wondering if he would ever see Indy again. He looked over at Nat. She had her eyes closed, and she looked as though she was concentrating on something. After a second, her eyes opened, and she smiled at Mutt.

_"He's coming back,"_ she announced. Just then, another loud crunching sound emanated from the blocked doorway, and suddenly it started to become not so blocked. The floor lowered until it finally crashed back into place, revealing Indy, who was lying on his stomach about halfway up the slope. His expression reminded Mutt of a cat that had just caught a large mouse. He twitched his finger at them in a signal to come.

"Come on, genius," he said to Mutt. Then, looking at Nat, he added, "Bring the backpack!" Nat grabbed it and scrambled through the doorway towards Indy. Mutt hurried to follow.

The floor, which Mutt now realized was a gigantic stone disk that pivoted back and forth on a central axis, tipped down so that the opening was now before them. Indy crawled off of it, Nat followed him, and Mutt climbed off last of all. The three of them walked forward onto a low ledge overlooking a large chamber. The room was filled with coins and gold and a lot of other old, valuable-looking things. Lying in among these treasures were several large bundles, which looked to Mutt like oversized voodoo dolls.

"This is incredible," Indy said, staring around in wonder.

"Unreal..." Mutt agreed, taking a step forward to get a better view of the room. Indy threw his arm in front Mutt, stopping him with a large thump.

"Don't touch anything," he warned. His flashlight's beam flicked around the room, coming to rest on the floor. It was then that Mutt saw what he was looking at: a large number of footprints, clearly visible in the dust on the floor. "Footprints; somebody's been here," Indy murmured, kneeling on the ledge to get a better view. Mutt and Nat swiftly did the same. "Recently..." Indy added a second later, sounding uneasy. His flashlight pointed down at the footprints as he considered them. "Two sets of prints," he noted. Mutt stared at the prints, almost unconsciously using his skill of recognizing shapes and faces as he compared them to each other. Suddenly, something dawned on him.

"Same size; could've been the same person twice," he suggested. Indy looked at him admiringly.

"Not bad, kid," he said, sounding impressed.

_"Yeah,"_ Nat chimed in,_ "It would've taken me a lot longer to notice that."_ Mutt felt his heart swell at her words, and he couldn't help grinning.

Indy got to his feet, staring around the chamber. Then something seemed to occur to him.

"One..." he muttered, shining his flashlight at one of the giant voodoo dolls. He proceeded to shine his light on each one in turn, counting aloud as he did so. "Two... three... four... five, six... seven." This last word was a statement full of triumph. He turned to Mutt and Nat, his eyes shining with excitement. "Orellana and his men might have made it out of the jungle after all!" He walked quickly down the steps of the platform, heading for one of the voodoo dolls. Mutt and Nat hurried after him. Indy stopped in front of the thing; then gestured for Mutt to step up beside him.

"Gimmie some light," he instructed. Mutt willingly raised the lantern higher. Indy grabbed the strange material covering the voodoo doll and attempted to rip it. Nothing happened. Indy sighed; then glanced at Mutt. "You don't have a knife, do you?" he asked hopefully. Mutt snorted in disdain at Indy's having to ask this question and pulled his trusty switchblade out of his pocket. He flicked it open and flipped it over in his hand so that the handle faced Indy. Indy took it, nodding his thanks, then turned his attention to the thing before him. He stuck the knife into the wrapping, and it easily cut through. He sawed a slit about a foot long into the wrappings; then started pulling layers back. First came a layer of what looked like cloth, and then a layer of a sort of tree bark material, and then what Mutt thought might be sheep's wool, and then...

"Whoa..." Indy said as he stared at what was under this last layer. It was the dead body of a man; his head was showing through the hole. The weird thing about it was that he looked so well preserved, he might have just fallen asleep.

"He looks like he just died yesterday..." Mutt said, awed.

"It's the wrappings; they preserved him," Indy explained.

Then something extremely gross happened. The man's skin crumbled and fell off in places, and his entire face seem to shrivel. Mutt stared, completely caught off guard. When he was finally able to speak, he asked, "Oh... what just happened?"

"He's been wrapped up for five hundred years. Air doesn't agree with him," Indy answered, an expression of resignation to disgusting occurrences on his face.

_"Ew..."_ Nat commented, but she didn't sound disgusted at all; in fact, she sounded to Mutt as though she wouldn't mind seeing the phenomena again.

Indy was peering into the wrappings, trying to get a view of what the rest of the man's body looked like. He put his hand down inside the wrappings and pulled out a spectacular knife made of what looked like gold. The blade of it was easily a foot long. Indy examined it; then handed Mutt's knife back, reaching over his own shoulder without looking at Mutt.

"Thanks," Mutt said, taking it. He was waiting for Indy to put the other knife back. When Indy moved to put the long knife into his belt, Mutt cleared his throat. Indy glanced at him.

"I don't wanna keep borrowing yours all the time," he grumbled.

"It's fine," Mutt answered, thinking, _But you'll be taking it... and you said not to do that..._

Indy sighed. "I was gonna put it back," he said, sounding annoyed. He hesitated; then stuck it back inside the dead man's wrappings.

_"Is this... knife envy?"_ Nat asked quietly, a giggle underlying her words. Mutt grinned broadly, but Indy didn't look too pleased.

"I put it back, didn't I?" he muttered. Mutt nodded, still grinning, and turned to took around at the other strange mummies. Something about one of them caught his attention. He walked over to look more closely; then turned back to Indy.

"Is this one open already?" he asked. Indy came over and started moving the wrappings about. Sure enough, they opened up along a slit that ran the entire length of the mummy, just as Mutt had thought. Indy slowly and carefully folded the wrappings back, starting at the feet.

The body inside the wrappings was clothed in an intricate suit of armor. When Indy lifted the wrappings off of the place where the man's face should've been, a golden mask in the shape of a man's face was revealed instead.

"Oh..." Indy said, sounding awed, "It's him. It's Orellana himself." He removed the mask from the corpse beneath. "They called him 'the guilded man,'" he said softly, "His lust for gold was legendary." He stared down at the mask for several seconds; then raised his head, a thoughtful expression on his face. "It's odd," he went on, setting down the mask and stepping around the mummy to one of the nearby piles of treasure, "Somebody's been here and gone, but they left all this..." he reached down and picked up a handful of gold coins; then looked up at Mutt and Nat as he continued, "... gold. And all the artifacts." He gestured around the room at the piles of priceless items. "What were they looking for...?"

Suddenly, the gold coins in Indy's palm flew through the air towards Orellana's body. Mutt, Indy, and nat all watched in surprise as the coins slithered inside Orellana's armor, making a strange sound as they struck something inside... or possibly behind... him. Indy reached out, picked up the torso of the body, and looked under it. Then he turned to Mutt, a smile spreading across his face.

"Hold this," he instructed almost gleefully, shoving Orellana's corpse into Mutt's arms.

"No!" Mutt cried, but he didn't have a choice. The body flopped heavily against him, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around it. He glanced at where the head flopped against his own and groaned, "Ugh..." He felt a small wave of relief that Orellana was dead long enough that he didn't smell. He turned his attention as best he could to what Indy was doing. Indy was carefully feeling in the wrappings behind where Orellana had been. At one spot he paused; then pulled the wrappings aside. Mutt heard Nat gasp and watched her take a quick step back, and he wondered why she did this. But all other thoughts faded away when Indy pulled something out of the wrappings and moved it into the light.

It was a skull, but it definitely wasn't human. It was elongated, like the drawings Ox had made and the skulls they had seen earlier, and it seemed to be mane of crystal. Mutt stared at it, fascinated.

"Un... believable..." Indy breathed, gazing at the amazing thing in his hands. Mutt dropped Orellana and dusted himself off, hoping to be able to get closer to the skull. Indy turned to face mutt, and Mutt felt the lantern in his hand tug toward the skull. He glanced down at it, but looked back up when Indy started to speak again. "No tool marks," Indy marveled, tilting the skull this way and that, "A single piece of seamless quartz, cut across the grain." He absently pulled a gold coin, one of the ones that had slithered away, off of the skull; then looked at Mutt, his eyes wide. "It's not possible, even with today's technology; it would shatter." Suddenly, Mutt's knife, which he was still holding in his hand, flew over and stuck to the side of the skull. Mutt and Indy jumped, and, after a few seconds, Mutt reached over pulled the knife off of the skull. It was harder than he'd thought it would be, but the knife still came away easily enough. "Crystal's not magnetic," Indy said, staring at the skull. This sentence made Mutt realize something else.

"Neither is gold..." he pointed out. Indy's eyes widened still further as he considered this.

"What is this thing?" he asked finally, his face full of wonder. It was at this point that Nat spoke up.

_"Whatever it is, I don't like it,"_ she said flatly. Mutt and Indy turned to her.

"Why not?" Mutt asked her, surprised that she didn't find the skull mesmerizing.

_"It's..."_ Nat seemed to be struggling to find the right words for something. _"It's __looking__ at me,"_ she said finally.

"Well, if that's all that's bugging you, it's been looking at us, too, you know," Indy said, examining the underside of the skull.

_"I know that, but I don't mean its looking at me with its eyes!" _Nat answered, sounding exasperated. She paused before continuing in a lower tone, _"It... it makes me feel the same way I did in Oxley's cell."_ Indy pulled his attention away from the skull to look at her; a strange expression had come onto his face.

"Really?" he asked, but he didn't sound very surprised to Mutt. After giving Nat the odd look for several more seconds, he turned his attention back to the skull. "That still doesn't tell us what this is, though," he murmured. Mutt decided to speak up; an idea had popped into his head, and he was eager to share it.

"Maybe the Nazca Indians thought this was their god," he suggested before getting to his main question: "You think this is the one from-"

"From Akator!" Indy finished Mutt's question. There was a tone of certainty in his voice that made Mutt's heart race with excitement. Indy started to pace, still holding the skull in his hands. "Maybe the Spaniards found the skull along with all this... other loot." He gestured around the chamber at the piles of treasure. "They're headed for their ships along the shore... maybe the Indians caught up with them... or maybe they got to squabbling amongst themselves; kill each other off. The Indians wrap 'em up and bury them." He spun quickly around to pace the other direction; he expression was one of intense concentration. "Couple hundred years later, Oxley shows up here, finds the skull, takes it away..." He turned to face Mutt and Nat, an excited smile coming onto his face, "...maybe to Akator!" His smile fade as he went on, "But then he returns it... here."

"Return..." Mutt interrupted, "Return, like he wrote on the walls of his cell!" Indy nodded, but he still looked puzzled.

"He put it back where he found it..." he said, sounding as though he hardly believed his own words, "Why?"

"Yeah..." Mutt found himself saying, "Why would he do that? If he got all the way to Akator..." He didn't finish his thought out loud, but he knew that Indy was thinking the same thing: If he got all the way to Akator, why didn't he leave the skull there, the way the legend said to do?

"_It's an interesting question,"_ Nat said quietly, _"But does it make me a party pooper for not really wanting to discuss it... here?"_ She glanced around the chamber. _"This is an fascinating place, but it's not exactly... homey."_

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Mutt agreed.

"Ok, we'll get going," Indy said briskly, "Now that we've found what we're looking for." He raised the skull slightly, a smile flitting across his face. It faded as he looked around the chamber. "But it is a shame not to examine more of the artifacts..."

"We'll come back sometime, Teach, ok?" Mutt assured him, trying not to laugh at Indy's sad expression. "Then you can poke around all you want." Indy nodded, but he still looked a little disappointed.;

"_How are we going to carry... that thing?"_ Nat asked, pointing at the skull.

"We'll put it in the backpack," Indy answered promptly. He held out his hand for Nat to give it to him. After a few seconds,she handed it over. Indy unzipped it and carefully slid the skull into it; then rezipped it and returned it to Nat. Nat took it gingerly, as though she was afraid it would bite her.

'I'll trade with you," Mutt whispered to her, holding out the lantern. She practically snatched it from him and thrust the backpack towards him. When Mutt took it from her, she visibly relaxed and even smiled at him.

"Let's go!" Indy said, walking toward the stairs and gesturing for Mutt and Nat to follow. They gladly hastened to do so.

NNNNNNN

The first thing Nat saw when she slid out of the barrow entrance was extremely bright light. She swiftly adjusted her mental seeing to compensate. As a result, the second thing she saw was an extremely large ant, nearly two inches long, scurrying along the ground towards her. She stepped quickly out of its way with a gasp of horror.

"What's wrong?" Mutt asked. He had just climbed out of the hole after her. Nat pointed a slightly shaking finger at the ant, feeling very glad for once that she was incapable of screaming. After staring at the ant for a few seconds, Mutt grinned. "That's it?" he said, clearly tying not to laugh.

_So I'm scared of bugs,"_ Nat retorted indignantly, _"So what?"_

"Hey, it's ok," Mutt said hurredly, "Sorry I laughed." Nat sensed that he really was sorry, and felt another wave of guilt about the way she'd been treating him. She was just about to answer him, and maybe even to apologize, when Indy climbed out of the hole.

"Keep going, you two," he said, shooing them towards the stairs that led to the upper level, "We should probably head back to the cave before we go down to Nazca; figure out where to go next." Nat nodded and led the way to the stairs. At the foot of them, however, she froze. "What's wrong, Nat?" Indy asked , echoing Mutt's words from a minute before.

"_I just felt it again..."_ Nat answered, _"That feeling I had outside the sanatorium, the feeling that someone... someone familiar... is nearby."_

"Really?" Indy looked concerned. "Well, let's get back to the cave, maybe we'll be able to talk about this there and figure out why you keep feeling like this." Nat nodded her assent and continued on up the stairs, Mutt and Indy right behind her. But when she reached the top, Nat felt like dashing back down them as quickly as she could.

A large group of men in horribly familiar uniforms stood on the upper level of the graveyard, pointing machine guns right at her, Mutt, and Indy. As Indy, the last person in their group, walked far enough up the stairs to be fully seen from the upper level, two men stepped out from behind one of the structures and walked toward them. Nat realized with a terrible shock that one of them was Mac, Indy's former associate. She suddenly knew that his mind was the one she had sensed outside the sanatorium, and the one that she had just felt again only moments before. But almost worse for her was the fact that the man next to Mac, as well as all the others, were Irina's soldiers. In ironic contrast to the incident a minute before, Nat wanted nothing more at that moment than to scream.

"'Ello, Jonesey," Mac said, grinning broadly and stepping even closer to them. Mutt stepped forward as though to block Mac's way, but Mac pulled a gun out from under his jacket, cocked it, and pointed it at Mutt's chest, right over his heart. Mutt froze, and Nat saw his jaw clench.

"Hello, Mac..." Indy answered, but he sounded almost tired with resignation. Nat knew that she had to try and do something that would help them. She started to raise her hand, but then the soldier standing beside Mac leaped forward, something gripped in his hand. Nat recognized him as Antonin Dovchenko, Irina's right-hand man. He grabbed Nat's shoulder tightly and drew her towards him, thrusting the thing he was holding, which Nat now recognized as a syringe, into her neck. She tried to create an energy shield, but all too quickly the drug in the syringe was working. Nat felt herself growing woozy, and her mental vision flickered and danced.

_Oh, no, not again,"_ she thought weakly, for she recognized the drug as the one that had been given to her before she had been taken to America. Soon she would fall into unconsciousness and lose all control of her mental abilities. She would be just like she had been before... completely helpless. Nat felt her knees buckle, and she started to fall. The last thing she saw was Indy and Mutt's faces; they both looked horrified at the drug's swift effects on her. The last conscious thought she had was, _I wish I'd apologized to Mutt sooner..._ Then everything was gone.

* * *

Thank you for reading that amazingly long chapter! It took forever to type... Your review instructions are... well, please just review! If you would like to do what we did last time, say what your favorite line was, feel free to do so. I always like hearing stuff like that. I'll try to update again sometime in the middle of January. Thank you very much!


	9. Chapter Eight: Reunions

Hello, my dear friends! It is I, your faithful supplier of entertainment, PhoenixCrystal! I'm glad that I'm able to update fairly quickly this time.

A few notes before we begin:

To evongreen07: This chapter and the next two after it are from Nat's POV, so your wish is coming true!

To Romance in the park: The line you picked as your favorite line, _"Is this… knife envy?"_ actually needs to be credited to someone else's genius: my sister, SilverTortoise. I was going to give her the credit in the last chapter, but I forgot. That one was soooo long… Also, thank you for being, like, the only person who didn't think Nat overreacted. I'm not mad at the rest of you guys for thinking so, but I do think you need to read Romance's review.

To everyone else: Thank you so much for all of your reviews! I love to hear from you, and you kind comments make my days!

I should probably get going on this, but I have a few things I'd like to mention about this chapter. Two new main characters show up in it, so the writing was very confusing for a while. I hope you enjoy my interpretations of these two characters, as well as that of another, slightly smaller character. Also, if you look close, you should see a little change in Nat's thoughts about Mutt…. it's not much, but it is there! One last thing is that this chapter looks extremely long (the chapter, intro, and end thingy together is over 15 pages typed), but the word count is 8861, which is slightly low for that many pages. This is because there is a ton of dialogue in this chapter, and I had to indent a lot, which uses up page space. So don't be too scared…

Please enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Indiana Jones or any of the characters in it. My creativity of what to do with them is my own...

* * *

Chapter Eight: Reunions

Nat was alone. But, at the same time, her mind was being assaulted by the thoughts of what seemed to be thousands of people. She couldn't block anything out, no matter how hard she tried. She also couldn't see or hear, or even move. It was like being blindfolded, tied up, and then placed either outside during a thunderstorm or underneath a waterfall. To make it even worse, the thoughts all seemed to be about death and pain. She felt as though she was trapped in a never-ending nightmare.

Every once in a while, a slightly different thought would creep in, almost like another dream in the middle of the nightmare. Once, Nat dreamed about a very kind man who was extremely worried about his daughter. She wanted to comfort him, but she couldn't speak. There was another dream, too, that began horribly but ended hopefully. In the dream, the man who Nat feared above all others came. It was the man who had hurt her. She tried to move, to call for help, but no one came. The man stood over her, considering whether or not he wanted to hurt her again. But, just when he had decided to that he would, another person came. Nat realized that it was the person she had dreamed about what felt like ages ago, the one who had promised that he wouldn't let anyone hurt her. He didn't do anything except be there, but the cruel man changed his mind about hurting her and left.

"_I won't let anyone hurt you,"_ he said when the cruel man left. Nat knew that he meant it just as much as before, but there was a desperate tone in his voice this time, as though he feared he would fail her.

_I know you won't,_ Nat tried to say back, but she couldn't speak. The dream faded and was replaced by the darkness and pain of the nightmarish thoughts.

But finally, after what felt to Nat like a thousand years, the thoughts began to fade. She realized that she could tell what her body was doing; she was lying down on something hard, but her head was propped up on something soft.

_The drug must be wearing off, _she thought hopefully. She tried to focus her mind enough to see, but she couldn't manage it. She decided to try moving instead. She slowly wiggled her fingers; then even more slowly slid her arm across the surface she was lying on. A sharp pain shot through her wrist, and she gasped.

"Hey!" she heard someone say, but their voice sounded echoic and distorted. Nat sensed that the person had moved closer, and that they were now right beside her. She struggled as hard as she could against the cobwebs in her mind left by the drug, and very slowly, her mental seeing began to work. Nat did her best to focus it. First she saw light and shadow; then the vaguest outlines. She saw that a person was sitting beside her, but she couldn't tell who it was. She pushed aside the last bindings of the drug, and Mutt's face swam into view.

"Hey, Nat, are you awake?" he asked, sounding anxious. Nat tried to answer him, but she couldn't manage it yet. She slid her hand across again, ignoring the pain, until it touched Mutt's knee. He grinned, looking delighted. "You are awake!" he said, "Finally!" Nat attempted to smile back, but she had a feeling it looked more like a grimace. She decided to examine her surroundings while she focused her mind enough for speech.

She was lying on the ground in a tent. There seemed to be a fire outside, and Nat thought she heard music. A lot of people were walking back and forth in front of the tent, but she didn't know who any of them were. She looked around the tent as best as she could, but she and Mutt were the only people in it. This fact caused her to realize something, and she sat up abruptly, her mind fully focused.

"_Where's Indy?"_ she asked, worried. A wave of dizziness swept over her, and she started to fall forward. Mutt caught her by the shoulders and carefully laid her back down.

"Don't do that," he instructed, "You've been out for a while, and if you keep sitting up like that, you'll hurt yourself or somethin'" He paused; then went on, "I dunno where he is. I haven't seen him since the graveyard."

"_How long ago was that?"_ Nat asked, forcing herself to remain lying down.

"About three days ago," Mutt answered.

"_Three __days__?"_ this news made Nat sit back up. She tried to ignore the dizziness as she went on, _"What's been happening? Where are we?"_ Mutt grabbed her shoulders and forced her back down.

"I thought I just told you not to do that," he said. His irritated tone made Nat smile. "The guys—the Russians, I mean—after they drugged you, they tied us up and took us back down to the desert. They had a plane waiting there. We all went on board, but they separated us, so I don't know where you or the teach were." Mutt stopped and cleared his throat. "I almost went crazy," he went on, "I bugged 'em so much about where you guys were that they said they'd put me with one of you on the boat if I'd shut up."

"_What boat?"_ Nat interrupted.

"Yeah, that's what I said. Turns out the next part of the journey was on a boat. We were on the plane for about a day, by the way. I reminded 'em of what they'd said, that they'd put me with one of you. This one guy, the one who drugged you, actually, he laughed and said, sure, I'll put you with one of 'em. He dragged me—and I mean he really did; that guy is huge—into a room and handcuffed me to one of the walls. He went away, and when he came back he was carrying you. He put you on this cot across the room, and he wouldn't let me see if you were ok." Mutt stopped, a strange expression flitting across his face.

"_Then what happened?"_ Nat prompted, curious.

"Well…" Mutt cleared his throat again. "I tried to see how you were when he left, but you were so far away… I could see that you were tied up, though, and you weren't moving. That made me kinda worried. But they kept drugging you, so I figured that you were still alive, at least."

"_You thought I was dead?"_ Nat asked dubiously.

"For a while." Mutt sounded a little sheepish. "But you would have thought you were dead, too, if you'd seen yourself," he added, a more normal tone, that of annoyance, in his voice. He sighed, after saying this; then went on in a calmer tone, "So I was pretty happy when we got off the boat and they put us in this tent. I could tell you were alive then, cuz I could hear you breathing. Then when you moved a minute ago… I'd noticed that they hadn't drugged you for a while, but I didn't know it would wear off that fast." He reached up with his left hand as though to scratch the back of his neck, but he winced about halfway up and lowered his hand again.

"_What's wrong?"_ Nat suddenly felt concerned. _"Did they hurt you?"_ Mutt shook his head.

"Nah, it's just were the handcuffs were. It's no big deal." He tried to put his hand behind himself, but Nat grabbed it and drew it towards herself, pulling back the sleeve of his leather jacket as she did so. A band of skin on his wrist about an inch wide was rubbed raw.

"_Oh!"_ Nat cried in surprise and pity.

"It's no big deal," Mutt repeated, flushing a little and trying to draw his hand away. Nat held onto it firmly in both of her hands.

"_Yes, it is!"_ she retorted. Another wave of dizziness came over her, and she wondered why. She was lying down, wasn't she? And, for some reason, her hands were tingling. She looked at them curiously. They were wrapped tightly around Mutt's hand; they looked very small in comparison to his. _These are probably just more aftereffects of the drug,_ Nat thought, and pushed the sensations to the back of her mind.

"No, it's not," Mutt said firmly, "Besides, you have ones just like this."

"_I do?"_ Nat was surprised.

"Yeah." Mutt slid his hand out of her hands and gently rolled her cuffs back. Two very similar raw bands of skin wrapped around her own wrists. "See?" The dizziness and tingling came surging back, and Nat pulled her hands out of Mutt's and sat up.

"_Ok, I won't make an issue of it,"_ she snapped. She instantly felt bad, for her tone had reminded her of the way she'd treated Mutt back at the graveyard. _"I'm sorry,"_ she said softly,_ "And I'm also sorry about… before. I was… really awful and overly hard. Can you forgive me?"_

"Sure!" Mutt said promptly, a grin spreading across his face. Nat smiled back.

"_Thanks, Mutt,"_ she answered. About a second later, she realized that that had been the first time she'd actually called Mutt by his name when talking to him. She felt herself flush, and wondered why she did so…

Just then, two men burst into the tent. Nat and Mutt both jumped.

"You vill come," one of them said in a thick Russian accent, grabbing Nat under the arms and hauling her to her feet. She pulled away from him as soon as she was up, and felt herself sway dangerously. Mutt leaped to his feet and placed his hand on her back, steadying her. Nat expected herself to flinch when he touched her, but she barely did at all.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask," Mutt said to one of the men in an annoyed tone, "What the hell did you do with my motorcycle?" The man looked taken aback for a moment; then he smiled.

"It stayed behind," he answered with a sneer, "Now, move!" He shoved Mutt, who now looked horror-stricken, through the tent flap. Nat followed before the man beside her could do the same.

The tent was part of a circle of other tents; they ringed around a cleared space with a large fire in the center. There were a large number of Russian soldiers around the fire and the cleared space. Nat looked around, scanning the crowd for familiar faces. She spotted one and nearly cheered, for it was the face of the person she'd been hoping to see: Indy. He saw her and Mutt and hurried towards them, looking concerned.

"You all right?" he asked Nat as soon as he was close enough to speak out loud to her.

"_Never better,"_ Nat answered dryly, trying hard to stay upright. Her knees still felt dangerously weak. Indy nodded and turned to Mutt.

"You all right, kid?" he asked.

"They left my bike at the cemetery…" Mutt was obviously still in shock over this news. Indy raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, but you're all right?" he pressed. Mutt stared at him as though he was crazy.

"They left my bike—" he started, but then something very distracting happened. Someone swished a sword through the air and placed the tip of it against Mutt's jaw. Nat looked up to see who was holding it, but she already knew the answer. Her stomach clenched when she saw who it was; someone she hadn't been looking forward to seeing, but one she'd known she would see eventually: her sister, Irina. She was smiling, enjoying the startled and confused look on Mutt's face. "Whoa!" he said, stepping back and raising his hands, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, stop, stop, stop!" Irina put the tip of her rapier back onto his jaw, but she didn't cut him. She watched Mutt, curious and calculating. He reached down and pulled something out of his pocket; as he raised his hand again, Nat saw that the thing was him comb. Irina saw it, too, and Nat watched her expression shift to surprised disdain. "Uh-huh," Mutt said, as though reassuring Irina that the comb wasn't a weapon. He swiftly combed his disheveled hair back into its usual sleek shape; then returned the comb to his pocket. "I'm ready," he stated, looking noticeably calmer and braver. He glanced over his shoulder and Indy and added, "Don't give these pigs a thing!" Irina looked at Indy. He shrugged.

"You heard him," he answered her silent question. Irina smiled; the expression of hers that Nat hated most.

"Hmmm…" she said, gently running the tip of her rapier along Mutt's jaw as she removed it. She spun around and stuck the point about an inch from the tip of Nat's nose. Nat didn't allow herself to flinch.

_Hello, Irina,"_ she said calmly, _"How's your evil plan coming?"_

"Don't be foolish, Natalia," Irina snapped back, "My plan is going quite well, except for this exact moment…" Her eyes smoldered with her repressed anger.

"_I said once that I would never help you again, Irina, and I don't intend to go back on my word."_ Nat was pleased with the way her words sounded, so cool and unaffected. She looked over at Indy. _"Don't give in to her, Indy,"_ she told him, making sure Irina could hear, as well, _"Whatever she wants, don't tell her."_

"Clearly I have chosen the wrong pressure points," Irina said, sounding half annoyed, half pleased. She removed the tip of her rapier from where she had placed it on Nat's collarbone. "Perhaps I can find a more sensitive one…" she went on, sounding positively gleeful. "Bring the other woman out!" she called to her soldiers; Nat guessed by her friends' expressions that her sister had been speaking Russian. Two of the soldiers stepped into one of the tents, and suddenly a woman's voice rang out, crying, "Get your hands off me, you rotten Russky son of a bitch!" A struggling woman was dragged out of the tent, and Nat heard Indy and Mutt gasp at the sight of her.

The woman was slim, and while towering over Nat, she only came to about Indy's shoulder. She had brown hair that was extremely curly, almost frizzy, and bright blue eyes. She had a few wrinkles, but she was extremely attractive and could easily have been as young as in her late thirties. She was dressed in a man's brown suit, tailored to her figure, with a sea-green shirt underneath it. She spotted someone and smiled widely, displaying even, white teeth, and put her hands on her hips. Nat looked to see who the woman was looking at and was surprised to see that it was Indy.

"Indiana Jones!" the woman said, still smiling. Indy nearly giggled; a sound Nat had never heard him make before. He stepped towards the woman, his arms outstretched at though he expected a hug. The woman's smile dropped off her face as quickly as it had come. "'Bout time you showed up," she added sarcastically, and walked right past Indy.

"Mom!" Nat heard Mutt cry. That brought Nat up short. This was Mutt's mother? How did she know Indy?

_Oh, yeah, she sent him the letter,_ Nat thought, but she was still confused.

"Sweetheart!" the woman said happily, giving Mutt a big hug.

"Mom?" Nat heard Indy say. And then suddenly, she knew. As Indy had said this, he'd thought of someone else, and Nat had made the connection. She knew who this woman was, she'd seen her in Mutt and Indy's minds nearly every day since she'd met each of them, but they thought of her in such different ways that Nat had never connected it before. This woman was the one that Mutt worried about and defended, but she was also the woman that Indy had fallen in love with many years before and still loved and regretted losing her. This realization was so ridiculous that Nat started to laugh. She staggered over to the three of them, nearly falling over with laughter, and listened to their conversation.

"What are you doing here?" the woman asked Mutt, looking confused.

"Well, forget about me, are you all right?" Mutt countered. Indy, who was standing to one side of them, pointed at the woman.

"Mom?" he asked Mutt, sounding dazed.

"Young man, I specifically told you not to come here!" the woman cried, waving her finger at Mutt in a motherly way.

"Wait, Marion is your mother…" Indy said over her, pointing back and forth between Mutt and the woman.

"You never wrote that, you never said that in any phone calls!" Mutt retorted, "How was I—" But Indy interrupted him.

"Marion Ravenwood is your mother?!?" he practically yelled at Mutt. The woman, Marion, put her hands back on her hips.

"Oh, for God's sake, Indy, it's not that hard!" she snapped at him. Indy looked a little surprised that she would address him.

"Uh, I know, I mean, I just never thought that you—" he answered, fumbling over his words. Marion cut him off.

"I would have a life after you left?" she said sarcastically. Indy looked taken aback.

"That's not what I meant—" he started, but Marion cut him off again.

"A damn good life!" she cried, eyes blazing. Indy tried again.

"Well, that's fine, it—" he began, but Marion interrupted yet again.

"A damn good, really good life!" She waved her arms about for emphasis.

"Well, so have I!" Indy yelled back, sounding defensive. Marion's entire demeanor changed. Suddenly, she was smiling again.

"Oh, yeah?" she retorted, sarcasm dripping from her words, "You still leaving a trail of human wreckage, or," she paused to let out a second of sardonic laughter, "have you retired?" Indy's face went bright red with anger.

"Why, you lookin' for a date?" he snarled. Marion's smile grew wider.

"With anybody…" she said, "… but you." Indy swelled, and Nat wondered if he would explode, but at that exact moment Irina interrupted the argument.

"So, Dr. Jones, you will help us," she said smoothly. One of her soldiers stepped up behind Marion and put the muzzle of the gun he was holding against her back, cocking it as he did so. "A simple 'yes' will do," Irina added, sounding amused. Indy sighed.

"Oh, Marion, you had to go and get yourself kidnapped…" he grumbled sarcastically.

"Not like you did any better!" Marion snapped back. Indy shook his head in annoyance.

"Same old, same old…" he muttered. He turned to Irina. "Fine, I'll help you," he said, sounding reluctant, "I'll talk to Ox, see what I can find out." Irina looked smug, and she gestured for her soldiers to escort them over to another one of the tents.

"Did he say Ox is here?" Mutt asked his mother eagerly. Marion sighed.

"Yes, dear, he did, but…" She stopped.

"But what?" Mutt pressed.

"Ox isn't himself," Marion answered simply. The soldier "escorting" her gave her a shove, and she moved out of talking range. Nat looked at Mutt, a small smile creeping onto her face.

"_Wow,"_ she said, _"That's your mom?"_ Mutt, who'd had a strange, apprehensive look on his face, glanced over at her.

_Yeah,_ he thought back,_ That was some fight between her and the teach. I wonder how they know each other…_

"_They loved each other,"_ Nat explained simply. Mutt raised his eyebrows.

_That explains it,_ he murmured, but then suddenly he seemed distracted by something.

They had come to a tent, and Indy was stepping through its open door flaps. A man was standing inside. He looked extremely disheveled, and he was wearing the oddest assortment of clothes: a traditional Peruvian poncho and hat over what looked like a three piece suit. All of the clothes were dirty and torn. The man's hair, which Nat guessed would be graying brown when it was clean, was long, to the man's shoulders, and matted. He looked rather dazed, but at the sight of Indy, his hazel-colored eyes lit up.

"Henry Jones, Jr.!" he said in a husky voice. He knelt down and repeated, "Henry Jones, Jr.!" Indy knelt down, too, in front of the man, grabbing the man's shoulder as he did so.

"That's right, Ox," he said, "Listen to me—" But Oxley continued speaking.

"To lay their just hands on that golden key, that opes the palace of eternity!" he said emphatically, staring at Indy. Indy blinked.

"Palace of…?" he asked, confused. Irina, who had knelt down next to him, cut him off.

"It's from Milton, he said it before; why?" she said impatiently. Indy ignored her.

"Ox, you gotta tell us how to get to Akator, or they're gonna kill Marion!" he cried imploringly.

"Through eyes at last I saw in tears; here in Death's dream kingdom…" Oxley answered, not looking at him.

Nat heard someone let out a tiny moan off to her left. She looked, and was startled to see that it had been Mutt. He looked close to tears, and Nat felt a twinge of pity for him, having to see the man who had helped to raise him babbling like a crazy person. Mutt stepped forward in an attempt to go to Oxley, but Marion grabbed his arm, whispering, "No, don't…"

"Harold, they're gonna kill Abner's little girl, you gotta tell us how to get there!" Indy pleaded, grabbing Oxley's shoulders, "We need specif—" He cut himself off, staring at Oxley's right hand. Or rather, at what it was doing. Nat looked at Oxley's hand, too; the way he was moving it through the air almost looked like… Indy grabbed Oxley's hand, stopping it in its path through the air. He looked deeply into Oxley's eyes; then nodded. "Uh-huh," he said triumphantly. He turned to Irina. "Get me paper, something to write with!" he instructed her.

"Get a pen and paper!" she yelled to her men, "Hurry!" One of the soldiers darted into a nearby tent; a few seconds later he ran out with a pad of paper and a pen. Indy stood up and walked to meet the man. The man gave him the articles and Indy walked quickly back to Oxley. He knelt down and held the paper up before Oxley; then put the pen into Oxley's still-moving hand. With the pen there, it was obvious that he was doing what Nat had guessed: writing. "Auto writing, I should have seen this!" Irina exclaimed, sounding disgusted with herself.

_Serves you right,_ Nat thought, pleased with her sister's failure. She glanced over to see if Mutt would find any pleasure in this, but he looked even more upset than before. Without thinking, Nat reached over and took his hand in an attempt to comfort him. He didn't seem to notice.

Now Indy was holding the pad of paper in such a way that Oxley could write on it. Without looking at the paper, Oxley's hand guided the pen across it.

"Henry Jones, Jr.!" Oxley murmured once again. Indy's mouth twitched upward in a pained smile.

"Right," he said encouragingly, "That's right, Ox!"

"Three times it drops…" Oxley said softly, as though imparting a secret, "The way down…"

"Three times…" Indy repeated, obviously trying to make sense of the words.

"Pictographs?" Irina said suddenly; she was looking at what Oxley was writing. Indy leaned his head around so that he could see, too, and he smiled.

"Ideograms!" he corrected her. He watched Oxley write; when Oxley finally stopped, Indy took the pen from him and looked at the paper. "Good, Ox, good…" he said grimly, standing up. He walked away from the tent, a look of concentration on his face as he stared at the paper. Irina got up and followed him.

Nat felt her hand tug forward, and she looked up to see that Mutt was walking forward towards Oxley. She moved to follow, as did Marion on his other side, but Mutt seemed unaware of them both. His expression was that of someone who was heartbroken. He walked until he stood before Oxley; then he slowly knelt down. Nat let go of his hand so that he could.

"Ox…" Mutt said softly, "It's me, Ox! It's Mutt, Ox." When Oxley didn't look at him, Mutt reached out and touched his face, tried to turn it towards him. "Hey, look at me," he pleaded, "Look at me!" Oxley turned his head to look at Mutt. Mutt's expression grew hopeful, his eyes scanning Oxley's face for signs of recognition. "It's me…" he whispered, "It's me…" After staring at Mutt for several seconds, Oxley turned his head away again; it was obvious that he didn't know who Mutt was.

"He's not himself." Marion repeated her words from before, kneeling down next to Mutt. "I'm sorry, sweetheart." Nat knelt down on the other side of Mutt, accidentally bumping him slightly as she did. He glanced at her.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked quietly, and Nat knew he was talking to her. She turned her attention to Oxley and focused on accessing his mind, attempting to answer Mutt's question. Unfortunately, she met with unexpected resistance. Something was blocking her from entering Oxley's mind. It forced her mind back, and Nat felt a now-familiar sensation: the feeling of fear and horror she had felt in Oxley's cell and in the presence of the mysterious crystal skull. She thought she saw the skull for a moment, blocking her path to Oxley, its eyes staring intently at her as it grinned widely. Nat instinctively pulled back from Oxley's mind, trying hard not to pull back physically as well.

"_I don't know"_ she answered Mutt, trying not to shiver, _"But I'm pretty sure it has something to do with that crystal skull…"_

"Oh…" Marion said suddenly. Nat turned her head to see if anything was wrong and was surprised to find that Marion was staring at her, a curious expression on her face. "Hello," Marion said to her with a smile, "I'm sorry, but I didn't notice you earlier. My name is Marion." She paused, as though considering whether or not to add her last name, but finally she simply held out her hand for Nat to shake. Nat smiled back and hesitantly shook Marion's hand, but she didn't dare answer her. Marion looked puzzled by Nat's silence. "What's your name, dear?" she asked. Nat opened her mouth, hoping for a miracle, but no sound came out as usual. Marion's smile started to fade, a little frown appearing between her eyebrows. Still desperately smiling, Nat nudged Mutt in the ribs with her elbow; he turned his attention away from Oxley and instantly spotted the trouble brewing.

"Oh, sorry, Mom," he said hurriedly. He gestured at Nat. "This is Nat," he explained, "She can't talk out loud."

"Ah…" Marion's smile returned. "That's why… I'm sorry, Nat, I didn't know." Then something seemed to occur to her. "What do you mean, 'she can't talk out loud'?" she asked Mutt teasingly, "What other kind of talking is there? Unless you meant that she writes…"

"Uh, no, not really." Mutt looked a little nervous. "Um, go ahead, Nat." Nat sighed, preparing herself for Marion's reaction.

"_It's a pleasure to meet you,"_ she finally said in Marion's mind. Marion jumped slightly and her eyes grew very wide, but she didn't seem to be frightened at all.

"Amazing," she whispered, "How are you able to do that, dear?" Nat was prepared to answer her, but Mutt jumped in.

"Well, her sister did it to her," he said quietly, "Her sister's that woman out there," he gestured toward the tent opening, "the one with the rapier. She tested something on Nat, and it did this to her." He paused; then added, "Nat can't see or hear, either."

"_Not physically, anyway,"_ Nat put in hurriedly, _"But with my mind, I can."_

"I see," Marion answered, looking surprisingly calm for someone on the receiving end of such information, "So… Nat… how do you know Mu- my son?"

"_I'm a friend of Indy's,"_ Nat explained, _"He rescued me from Irina—Dr. Spalko, I mean. How he got there in the first place is a long story-"_

"I'm sure it is," Marion murmured, smiling slightly.

"_But suffice it to say, we sort of helped each other escape, and he's allowed me to stay around since then. It's been about, oh, nine days, now."_ Nat glanced over at Mutt; then continued, _"I met Mutt when he showed up looking for Indy. That was about six days ago."_

"I think it's been seven, now," Mutt corrected her.

"_Close enough,"_ Nat retorted, smiling at him. She turned her attention back to Marion. _"I know it's extremely confusing,"_ she said apologetically, _"But please don't worry, I'm on the same side of this as you."_

"The prisoner side?" Marion asked, smiling. Nat grinned back.

"_Exactly."_

"Hey, listen!" Mutt said suddenly. He was looking through the tent flaps, an intent expression on his face.

"What is it, sweetheart?" Marion asked, looking concerned.

"I think he figured it out," Mutt answered. Nat knew that "he" was Indy, and she focused on attempting to hear what was going on outside the tent. Indy and Irina were bending over a table, examining a large sheet of paper.

"The Great Snake's the Amazon, of course," Indy was saying, "But… sleep. What water sleeps?"

"C'mon," Mutt murmured, getting up and grabbing Oxley's elbow to that the dazed man was pulled up, as well. Mutt gestured for Marion and Nat to stand up; they both hastened to do so. He placed his hand on Marion's elbow as soon as she was up and drew her and Oxley out of the tent. Nat followed, curious about his actions.

"Here! Sleep!" Irina cried suddenly, pointing at the paper, which Nat now guessed was a map, "The Portuguese word for sleep!" This sentence confused Nat until she realized that Irina had probably originally said the word in Portuguese.

"Yes, good," Indy said, sounding pleased, "Exactly." Nat noticed that Mutt was walking forward, drawing the other two with him, and moved after him. "He wants us to follow this curve of the Sleep," Indy went on, "Down to where it meets the Amazon to the southeast."

"Mutt, what are you doing?" Marion hissed. Nat realized that Mutt had left their group and was now walking around to the opposite side of the table from Indy and Irina. His expression was extremely serious.

"After that, I'm not sure," Indy continued, "Kingdom of Dreams; tears and eyes; I have no idea what he means." Mutt was now slowly moving towards the table; Nat wondered what he was going to do. "This could be the route, though, it's a completely unexplored part of the canopy…"

The instant that Indy finished saying this, things got very interesting. Mutt leaped forward and punched the soldier holding the lantern over the table. The man reeled back and fell into a couple of other soldiers. Mutt then grabbed the table and heaved it forward onto Irina and several of the men behind her, yelling with the effort of pushing them back. Indy barely stepped out of the way in time, and he hastened to join Nat and the others. Mutt ran back to them, grabbed Marion and Oxley, and dragged them towards one of the tents, yelling, "Go, go, go, go, go!" Nat ran after him, grinning to herself as she realized that Mutt was leading them in an escape. The unorthodox and inexperienced manner of it told her that the escape plan was entirely his own; this knowledge caused a strange sensation to grow inside her, one that she could not identify. Mutt led the way through the large tent they had entered, pulling his mother and guardian along as he ran. He made sure they were safely out the other side, shooing Indy after them as he did so. He waved for Nat to follow them, as well, but she found herself distracted by something. The crystal skull was in the tent…

"Go, Nat!" Mutt yelled, "They're coming!" Nat wrenched her gaze from the skull; she had found herself paralyzed at the sight of it. She turned her head to see Irina and her soldiers charging towards the tent. Mutt seized a lantern from one of the tables in the tent and threw it to the ground where it shattered, causing a sheet of flame to shoot up and ignite the tent. "Come on!" Mutt cried urgently, grabbing Nat's left upper arm and dragging her out of the tent the way the others had gone.

Marion and Indy were waiting for them; Oxley stood nearby, looking confused. Mutt let go of Nat's arm and took Marion's instead, gesturing for all of them to run into the jungle that lay before them. No one needed prompting except Oxley. As Nat ran, she concentrated on the sounds and minds behind them while also attempting not to trip on the numerous tree roots. She found Irina's mind in the chaos and was pleased to find that her sister was furious.

"What the hell are we doing, kid?" Indy called to Mutt, sounding annoyed.

"They were gonna kill us!" Mutt cried back, ushering Marion around a log. Nat heard Indy sigh.

"Well, maybe…" he conceded reluctantly, but he still sounded defiant.

"Somebody had to do something!" Mutt went on, going around the log himself.

"Something else would've been good…" Indy grumbled.

"Well, at least I got a plan!" Mutt snapped, glaring over his shoulder at Indy.

"This is intolerable!" Indy growled. "Harold, for God's sake, keep up!" he added. Nat turned to see that Oxley was several yards behind them, but she swiftly regretted this action because it caused her to run right into Marion and Mutt, who had stopped. They each grabbed one of her arms to keep her from falling. "Why are you stopping?" Indy asked, coming up beside them with Oxley in tow, "We should-"

"_Quiet! They're coming!"_ Nat said loudly. Indy Marion, and Mutt all whipped around, looking scandalized at her loud tone. Nat shrugged, grinning. _"They can't hear me,"_ she reminded them. Just then, several people ran by, not five yards from them, carrying lanterns and yelling to each other; Nat guessed that they were speaking Russian.

"Go that way!" one called, "And I'll go over there!" Nat took several quick steps back, as did Indy and Marion. Mutt crouched down behind a large clump of bushes, pulling Oxley down beside him.

Almost instantly, Nat noticed that something was wrong. The ground beneath her was moving. She looked down and realized with a jolt that she had sunk up to her knees in what looked like ordinary sand. When she tried to pull her feet out, however, she found that they would not come free. She glanced around wildly and discovered to her horror that Indy and Marion were trapped in the same phenomena. They had realized it just as she had; their expressions showed their surprise, and Marion gasped when she realized her foot wouldn't lift. Mutt turned to see what was wrong; he immediately noticed the problem and hurried forward, crying, "Mom?"

"Stay where you are!" Marion yelled, flinging her hands forward in a gesture for him to halt. Mutt stopped so fast that he stumbled and fell over backwards.

"Stop!" Indy commanded him, as well, "Stop." When he was sure that Mutt wasn't continuing towards them, he turned to Marion and Nat. "Don't move, " he ordered them, "Moving makes space, space'll make you sink." Nat nodded, but Marion continued to struggle against the sand.

"No," she cried stubbornly, "I think I can get out if I just-"

"Stop it," Indy cut her off, "You're pulling against a vacuum; it's like trying to lift a car. Just stay calm."

"Ok, I'm calm…" Marion stopped moving.

"What is it, quicksand?" Mutt asked anxiously.

"I'm calm," Marion repeated, but she still sounding worried.

"No, it's a dry sand pit," Indy answered Mutt.

"I'm sinking, but I'm calm," Marion said nervously.

"Quicksand is a mix of sand, mud, and water," Indy went on in his best teacher voice, "And, depending on the viscosity, it's not as dangerous as people sometimes think-" Marion cut him off.

"Oh, for God's sake, Jones, we're not in school!" she cried shrilly. Nat couldn't help smiling, it was just like Indy to give a lecture in the middle of a bad situation. Indy, however, sighed at Marion's response.

"Don't worry," he told her in a confident voice, "There's nothing to worry about unless there's a-" He was interrupted by the sudden eruption of a geyser of air and sand off to Nat's left. She and Indy both jumped, and Marion cried out in surprise. Nat felt herself sink lower into the sand and saw Indy and Marion do the same. "Um, void collapse," Indy finished. He turned to look over at Mutt, a silent plea on his face. Mutt, who had been searching the little clearing for something, understood the message.

"I'll go get something to pull you out!" he called; then turned and ran into the jungle. Indy looked at Oxley, who was crouching by the edge of the sand pit with a dazed expression on his face.

"Ox, don't just sit there!" Indy cried to him.

"Eh?" Oxley stared at Indy, looking confused.

"For God's sake, man, go get help!" Indy waved his arms about emphatically.

"Help…" Oxley seemed to contemplate the word.

"Help!" Indy yelled. Oxley looked surprised.

"Help!" he yelled back. Indy groaned, looking at Marion and Nat for support; then turned back to Oxley.

"Help, go!" he practically bellowed. Nat and Marion waved their arms, and Marion called, "Help!" as well. Oxley finally seemed to understand, for he got up and hurried off in the direction Mutt had taken.

Nat was beginning to feel a little apprehensive, for the sand now reached to her upper thighs. It was several inches lower on both Marion and Indy. Nat knew that the reason for this was her small height, but she also knew that she did have one advantage over her companions: her special abilities, particularly those related to creating energy shields. She was coming up with a plan to get at least herself out; it involved putting an energy shield around the buried part of her body and lifting it, and therefore her body, out of the sand. She began to focus her mind in the way necessary for creating an energy field when Marion spoke and distracted her.

"Mutt can be a little impetuous…" Marion said apologetically to Indy. Indy's mouth twitched.

"Ah, it's not the worst quality in the world," he answered, glancing over his shoulder in the direction Mutt had run. Nat knew he was wondering what was taking Mutt so long.

"_Don't be impatient, Indy-"_ she began, but just then another geyser of sand and air shot up. Marion gasped looking even more worried than before.

"Keep your arms above the surface," Indy instructed, raising his own arms, "When the kid comes back, grab on!" Marion hastily raised her arms, and Nat followed suit. She had sunk at least another foot in the last few seconds since the geyser; the sand now came up above her waist. She knew that if her plan was going to be carried out at all, it would have to happen within the next minute. She began to focus her mind again, but this time she also listened to what Indy and Marion were saying.

"Indy… he…" Marion began hesitantly. Nat knew she was talking about Mutt.

"He's a good kid, Marion," Indy said, understanding as well, "You should get off his back about school."

_Wow,_ Nat thought, _Indy must really like Mutt to say something like that._ She smiled to herself. _Maybe he gets what I've been thinking all along, that school doesn't have to be everything…_

"Mutt, I mean…" Marion attempted to go on. Indy continued to speak over her interjection.

"Not everybody's cut out for it-" he elaborated, but Marion cut him off before he could finish.

"His name is Henry!" she cried in a slightly high-pitched voice. Nat blinked, surprised. Mutt hadn't ever thought of his given name, so she hadn't known what it was. But the thing that she found even stranger was the fact that Marion had named her son after her former lover…

"Henry…" Indy repeated, also looking surprised. He gave Marion a thumbs-up. "Good name," he added distractedly, glancing around the clearing once again. Nat was distinctly worried now; the sand came up to her collarbones and to Indy and Marion's ribs. But then Marion said something that made Nat forget everything else.

"He's your son," she stated simply.

Nat felt her jaw drop. She stared at Marion, attempting to comprehend what the woman had just said. Mutt was Indy's son… the idea seemed so strange. But then Nat realized that it must be the truth; she could sense that Marion wasn't lying, but it was more than that. Nat was remembering all of the strange similarities between Mutt and Indy; not so much in the way they looked, but in the way their minds were laid out and the way they thought. Now that she'd heard the truth, Nat realized that it had been staring her in the face ever since the first time she'd seen Indy and Mutt together…

"My son?" Indy said, pointing at himself. His expression showed that he was still in the "attempting to comprehend" stage.

"Henry Jones the Third," Marion answered, sounding nervous, tired, and amused all at once. Indy continued to gape at her, but then something seemed to occur to him.

"Why the hell didn't you make him finish school?!?" Indy bellowed, getting red in the face. It was right after this that Mutt reappeared. He came charging out of the jungle, though in a different place from where he'd entered it; he was clutching something long and thin that Nat couldn't quite make out.

"Mom!" he cried, spotting Marion, who was now buried up to her shoulders.

"Yeah?" she called back, sounding calmer than she had since getting stuck.

"Grab on!" Mutt got ready to throw the end of the thing he was carrying. Marion waved her arms in a gesture for him to stop.

"Get Nat out first, sweetheart," she instructed. Nat felt very grateful for this, for the sand now came up to her neck, but she knew that this gesture was unneeded.

"_Thanks, Marion,"_ she said, _"But I'm pretty sure I can get myself out."_

"How?" Marion looked confused. Nat smiled, bringing her mind to the right focus. Instead of answering Marion's question with words, Nat acted, carefully forming an energy shield around her body. Once she got started, the task was very quick. When the shield was in place, Nat concentrated on lifting it up out of the cloying sand. This was a bit harder, but after a few seconds Nat felt herself coming free. She raised herself until her feet popped out of the sand; then moved herself over to the safe ground where Mutt was standing. As soon as her feet touched solid ground, Nat nodded to Mutt.

"_Now__ get your mom out,"_ she said, smiling. Mutt stared at her for a few seconds; then shook himself and threw the end of the thing to Marion.

Nat's knees buckled as a sudden wave of weariness crashed over her. She guessed that it was a result of using an energy shield after having been heavily drugged for three days. She lay back on the ground, listening to the rescue being attempted.

"Grab!" Mutt called in a commanding voice.

"I got it!" Marion answered a second later. She gasped, and Nat knew that Mutt had started to pull her out.

"Agh!" Mutt cried in effort. "Come on, Mom! Pull!" Nat realized that he was backing up towards her; she hastily drew her legs up. "Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull!" Mutt yelled to Marion. Nat pushed herself up into a sitting position to see that Marion's lower legs were just coming free of the sand. She also saw that Indy had a horrified expression on his face, but she didn't have a chance to investigate why because she had to get out of Mutt's way again. "Pull!" he commanded Marion one last time, and then he was able to grab her arms. He hauled his mother the rest of the way onto the safe ground; then lifted the thing he had found to throw the end to Indy. Nat gasped when she saw what it was, but she also smiled, for now she knew why Indy had looked so horrified. "Grab on!" Mutt yelled, and threw the head end of the gigantic snake he was holding onto Indy. Indy yelped in horror and tried to fend the snake off of him without actually touching it. Nat felt a wave of sympathy on his behalf; she knew that his secret fear of snakes was just as strong or stronger than her own secret fear of insects, which was very intense. But, at the same time, she couldn't help laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation: Indy, the seemingly fearless one, was freaking out over a snake…

"Grab it," Mutt commanded, pushing the snake farther forward.

"Grab it, Indy," Marion encouraged, sounding apprehensive.

"Sn-snake," Indy nearly whimpered, "Snake, snake…"

"It's ok, it's a rat snake!" Mutt cried, thrusting the snake more onto Indy. Indy cringed, swallowing hard.

"Rat snakes aren't that big…" he murmured, still attempting to evade the snake's head.

"Well, this one is!" Mutt retorted. When Indy continued to freak out, Mutt sighed. "It's not even poisonous," he said, sounding half reassuring, half annoyed, "Now grab on!"

"Go get something else…" Indy gasped.

"Like what?" Mutt yelled. He heaved the snake forward again, causing even more of it to land on Indy.

"Like… like a rope or something," Indy answered when he could speak again. Mutt stared at him in astonishment; Nat knew that he was wondering if Indy was insane.

"There's no Sears and Roebuck here!" he snapped, "Grab the snake!" He threw it again.

"Ah!" Indy yelped when the snake touched him. He stared imploringly at Nat. "C-can't you get me out the way you did for yourself?" he pleaded. Nat shook her head.

"_Sorry, Indy,"_ she said apologetically, _"I don't know where your feet are, so I could cut them off by accident and cause you to bleed to death."_

"That'd be better than this," Indy gasped.

"_No, it wouldn't,"_ Nat assured him, _"Just get it over with; grab it!"_

"Uh," Indy murmured, "M-maybe I can touch the bottom…"

"There is. No. Bottom," Marion called, "Now grab it, grab it!"

"I… I think I can feel it with my feet…" Indy insisted feebly. Nat was extremely worried for him now; he had sunk up to his neck.

"Grab. The. Snake!!" Mutt ordered at the top of his voice.

"Stop calling it that!" Indy cried, batting the snake away from his face.

"It's a snake, what do you want me to call it?!" Mutt yelled. Nat knew he was wondering about Indy's sanity again.

"Say 'rope'!" Indy suggested.

"What?" Mutt cried.

"Say 'Grab the rope!'" Indy commanded, waving his arms about. Mutt, Marion, and Nat all looked at each other; then back at Indy.

"_Grab the rope!"_ they all chorused at once. Indy closed his eyes and, hands trembling slightly, seized the snake just below its head.

"Hold tight, it's slimy," Mutt warned, "Now, pull!" He started to tug on the other end of the snake. Nat grabbed it, too, wanting to help; she tried not to flinch when she realized that the snake was indeed slimy. Marion followed Nat's lead, and together the three of them dragged Indy up and out of the sand. He let go of the snake the instant he was able to.

"Get rid of that thing, will ya?" Indy snapped at Mutt. Mutt stood up and threw the snake off into the bushes, and Indy added in a low voice, "Son…" Nat smiled; she had temporarily forgotten this piece of information. Mutt collapsed back onto the ground between Marion and Nat.

"Afraid of snakes…" he gasped, barely restraining himself from laughing, "You are one crazy old man…" Marion began to laugh, and Mutt and Nat joined in. As Nat giggled, she felt a strong sense of relief wash over her. But it vanished a few seconds later when she heard someone else laugh from behind Indy. She looked up, as did all the others.

It was Mac. Nat's stomach plummeted; she now felt as though the sand had buried her, after all.

"Why'd you have to do everything the 'ard way, Jonesey?" Mac said gleefully, "Eh?" Irina walked smoothly out of the bushes behind Mac, and all of her soldiers stepped out from behind trees all around the little clearing. They were all holding guns, which were aimed right at Nat and the others with her. Nat's heart sank, for she knew they were surrounded. Oxley walked calmly through the group, a dazedly satisfied smile on his face.

"Good work, Ox, thanks," Indy told him, sounding slightly sarcastic. Oxley's smile grew wider.

"Help!" he stated.

"Get them up!" Irina commanded her men, a cruelly self-satisfied smirk spreading across her face, "Make sure they are well secured this time." She pointed at Nat. "Her in particular." Nat, who was standing up with the others at this point, stepped back, and she felt Mutt grab her arm in a protective gesture. But then, eerily reminiscent of before, one of Irina's soldiers leaped forward, this time from behind Nat, grabbed her, and plunged a syringe into her neck. Nat swayed as the drug took affect once again, and she fell backwards, away from Mutt. The soldier caught her and picked her up; Nat knew then that it was Dovchenko who had drugged her, as he had before. She faintly heard Marion gasp in horror, and Mutt and Indy calling her name. But then the world went black, and Nat was back in the horribly familiar void of isolation.

* * *

Wow… that seemed pretty long. I hope you enjoyed it! I probably won't be able to update again for a little while, school has started for me and I'm going to be pretty busy. I also have at least one other story that I want to start writing and posting, and I know I should start that soon because, and I quote myself, "It's better to start writing a story down the minute it pops into your head and mostly ignore all other stories than it is to keep going with the old stories and forget the new one!" Yup. Please review, and give whatever feedback you'd like! Thank you!


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